Tunde Bakare
Kogi State House of Assembly has called on the State Government put in place formidable regulatory mechanisms to protect economic trees in the state and strengthen the cashew nuts value chain through strict enforcement.
The House made the the call in a resolution following the adoption of a Motion by Hon. Oluwaseyi Bello (APC-Kabba-Bunu) Calling on the State Ministry of Agriculture to check activities of exploitative foreign business men through regulation.
The House frowned at a situation where foreign exporters broke the Cashew Value Chain, bypassing the Licensed Buying Agents to buy directly from the farmers and denying the state necessary revenues.
In the motion, Hon. Bello noted that data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show Kogi State as the leading producer of cashew nuts in Nigeria.
He recalled that the House recently passed an Executive Bill; Kogi State Commodity Exchange Market which was signed into law by Governor Anmed Usman Ododo to support Local farmers and enhance their productivity by creating the market for their products.
The Cashew Value Chain in the state, according to him, has seven segments comprising the Exporter, the Merchant, Licenced Buying Agent, Sub buyer, Farmer, Functions and the Farmer.
According to the Legislator, each and every segment of the value chain represents an important element crucial to the success of cashew trade in Kogi State as they equally offer substantial employment opportunities to people in the rural communities.
He prayed that the House to mandate the Agriculture Ministry to protect economic trees by placing a complete ban on foreigners from buying economic trees but be restricted to buying strictly “Export Ready Dried Cashew Nuts” in Kogi branded jute bags.