Research have shown that cashew possess herbal benefits that fights diarrhoea, drying secretions, reduces blood sugar and pressure. Hence, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), is working to improve its’ contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product; BINTA SHAMA reports.
Commissioning the cashew nut plant
In its bid to actualise its raw material import substituting and deletion programme a reality, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), recently commissioned a high grade Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) processing plant it built in collaboration with the Kogi State University (KSU).
Speaking at the unveiling, the Director General of the Council Professor Hussaini Doko Ibrahim, said the event was expedient as marks a new twist to the agency’s drive to make cashew a money spinner for Nigeria.
He also highlighted the benefits, noting that the advancement of cashew plantation can add value to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP).
The RMRDC seem not to be relenting as the project targets to promote the development and utilization of secondary raw materials which can serve as inputs for industrial manufacturing of paints, resins, shoe polish, brake fluid among other industrial products.
Prof. Ibrahim, represented by the Director of Planning and Policy in the Council, Dr. Bola Olugbemi, said the CNSL plant was established with the aim of promoting the development of strategic secondary raw materials to add fillip to the government’s economic diversification agenda whilst boosting the value chain potentials of cashew as a versatile cash crop in Nigeria.
Setting aside 0.5% of GDP
Dr Olugbemi in espousing the scope of the project, disclosed that the CNSL plant, was the first plant to be established by the Council, and was a collaboration between RMRDC and KSU on CNSL since 2009. He explained that the project, when fully operational, will serve as catalyst for rapid and competitive expansion of activities in cashew production, development and utilization as well as build techno-entrepreneurship capabilities among the operators in the industry in the state and the country as a whole.
“We are hoping that cashew production, processing and utilization activities especially in the area of Cashew Nut Shell Liquid production in Kogi state and Nigeria as a whole will be boosted by the CNSL Plant. We are also looking at further building the capacities of the operators for business of cashew value addition and trade. We see the Cashew sub sector as a huge source of revenue which if properly harnessed will create jobs and power the economic potentials of the state,” he said.
Explaining further, Olugbemi said, the federal government is committed to assigning 0.5% of the country’s GDP to research and development, and as a result, the Council has been given the responsibility of coordinating the review of old Science and Technology policy in the country on how they can improve on 0.5 per cent set aside for R&D by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.
Improving share of manufacturing
He said the Council was in the process of executing this responsibility and was committed to helping the ministry achieve its mandate of improving the share of manufacturing in the economy though implementations of policy and value chain development in the area of agriculture and manufacturing.
He said the council is pleased to see some of the products the university have developed from the cashew through research. “The council also extend this initiative using the same model of KSU to other universities such as federal university of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State & Abia state university, Uturu, Abia State.
“RMRDC decided to go further than just having a Cashew Nut by way of introducing Cashew Nut Shell Liquid processing plant for industrial use. He stated that Nigeria is still importing CNSL because of its usefulness in the painting industry, Pharmaceutical & chemical industries. So the council felt there is a need to do more research in to other products of cashew to reduce the importation.”
Impact and sustainability
Speaking on the impact and sustainability of the project, Dr Olugbemi urged the Kogi State University, not to relent in its effort at developing products from its numerous research and development programmes as the Council is willing to enter into further collaborate with the University.
Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor Kogi State University, Prof. Marietu O. Tenuche assured the Council of the University’s commitment, saying since 2009 the University has been making efforts in developing the cashew value chain because of the commitment of the Council to development and utilization of CNSL, insisting that the Council has been very supportive to the research component and other activities of the University.
Promoting value addition in cashew production
Earlier, the project coordinator Dr. Ogbadu Andrew Ochali who also doubles as the Business Development Manager, Kogi State University Ventures Limited, said the idea behind the establishment of the project is to promote value addition in cashew production, create employment and develop “our own raw material research within the country.”
Ocholi stated that “most of our products are being exported out in raw form and thereby lose a lot of value apart from job creation and the capital retention in the country.”
He noted that Nigeria produces lots of cashew which She’ll is thrown away as waste product after consumption, saying the KSU is working hard in collaboration with the RMRDC to convert the waste to good use.
He, therefore, urged cashew farmers to embrace good farming product handling especially post-harvest handling, to maintain their farms and do a proper fire tracing to avert fire outbreak in the farm.
The farmers should embrace the improved varieties of seedlings to be able to achieve a bumper harvest for industrial use, Ocholi added.
Commissioning the project, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, acknowledged the efforts of the RMRDC in augmenting the research activities of the University.
According to a report, the Council is putting in place mechanisms to develop the sector, so that as agriculture is evolving towards a global system requiring highly qualitative and competitive commodities and products organised in value chains, RMRDC initiated, maintained and sustained a cashew development programme aimed at developing its value chain locally, and the recent commissioning of the CNSL project is a pointer to that.
