BY PETER DURU
MAKURDI – Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom yesterday said Nigeria earned $612.7 million from the exportation of sesame seeds as the leading global producer of the commodity in 2010.
Ortom spoke at the flag off of promotion on ‘’increasing sesame seed production for export,’’ by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC.
He said the sesame seed promotion was part of government’s action to boost non-oil export in the country, even as he acknowledged that Nigeria’s foreign earinings from non-oil exports increased tremendously in the last three years.
Ortom said: “According to recent release from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the contribution of non-oil to total exports has been increasing steadily as it stood at 29.6 percent in 2010; an improvement from 15.5 percent in 2009.
“Increasing the non-oil exports from sesame seed export was part of the Federal Government’s effort to reduce our dependence on earnings from oil.”
The minister reaffirmed government’s determination to ensure bumper harvests in the agricultural sector this season addding that, “It is in realization of this objective that informed my ministry’s efforts to grow the economy through promoting Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs, as engine of the economy”.
In his remarks, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State decried the decreasing cultivation of sesame seed in the state, noting that his administration would provide the necessary support to farmers who cultivate the crop.
MAKURDI – Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom yesterday said Nigeria earned $612.7 million from the exportation of sesame seeds as the leading global producer of the commodity in 2010.
Ortom spoke at the flag off of promotion on ‘’increasing sesame seed production for export,’’ by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC.
He said the sesame seed promotion was part of government’s action to boost non-oil export in the country, even as he acknowledged that Nigeria’s foreign earinings from non-oil exports increased tremendously in the last three years.
Ortom said: “According to recent release from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the contribution of non-oil to total exports has been increasing steadily as it stood at 29.6 percent in 2010; an improvement from 15.5 percent in 2009.
“Increasing the non-oil exports from sesame seed export was part of the Federal Government’s effort to reduce our dependence on earnings from oil.”
The minister reaffirmed government’s determination to ensure bumper harvests in the agricultural sector this season addding that, “It is in realization of this objective that informed my ministry’s efforts to grow the economy through promoting Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs, as engine of the economy”.
In his remarks, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State decried the decreasing cultivation of sesame seed in the state, noting that his administration would provide the necessary support to farmers who cultivate the crop.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/nigeria-earns-612m-from-sale-of-sesame-seeds-minister/