A team of Trade Promotion Officers from the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Ilorin, visited IITA on 17 February to discuss workable solutions to upgrade farm products produced for export by traders in Kwara State. The team was received by Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell, IITA Molecular Geneticist Ranjana Bhattacharjee, and Capacity Development Office Head Sougrynoma Zaïnatou Soré.
NEPC Ilorin Principal Trade Promotion Advisor Tajudeen Olaoye and his Executive Assistant, James Ajayi, started by updating the IITA team on previous collaborations with the Institute in their previous capacities as Trade Advisors in Akure, Ondo State. They desire to harness the same collaboration efforts to benefit Ilorin traders.
In his opening remarks, Olaoye highlighted the zero-oil plan initiative developed by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to boost foreign exchange earnings through non-oil products. He said, “There are about 22 products on our priority list to develop for export. An integral part of the zero-oil plan is the one state one product initiative. Soybean is the export product for Ilorin, and alternatively, cashew. We are seeking partnership with IITA to train our farmer producers to maximize yield and harness modern methods of farming to meet the competitive pricing in international markets.”
Ajayi added that of the 300 registered exporters in Kwara State, more than 100 are farmers already producing soybean for sale. However, their primary challenge has been competitive pricing in the international market. The team identified the major area of collaboration with IITA as the training of the state farmers and exporters to penetrate the global market.
Dashiell, a soybean specialist in the 1980s and 1990s, assured NEPC Ilorin of IITA’s support and partnership. Both parties immediately constituted a working group to kick-start partnership plans and logistics to implement the team’s goal.
The first step is to ensure that identified farmers can access training that they can utilize in the upcoming planting season and train their colleagues to reap the same benefits. The partnership already looks promising as the team revealed over a hundred exportable products from Kwara State alone.
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council is a Federal Government Agency responsible for developing non-oil products in Nigeria for overseas markets. They aim to diversify the economy of Nigeria through product development, capacity development, product standardization, and documentation.
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