The Bank of Industry has disclosed that if Nigeria raises her potentials in many agricultural products, especially plantain and cassava, recession may start to ease earlier than expected.
This was revealed yesterday in Ile Ife by the Group Head, Department of Agro-Processing, Bank of Industry, BoI, Lolo Kadafa, while delivering the lead paper during an agricultural summit in Ile Ife, Osun State tagged: Ife Agro-preneurship Summit and Presentation of Ojaja 11 Agricultural Hub, she noted that plantain, from its stub to its leaf, has products that could earn the country foreign exchange, if well packaged.
Giving example from what is happening in Peru, she said from the stub, building materials that are in vogue for ceilings are extracted.
According to her, “Also the leaf can be processed into trays, slippers, toothpaste and cups among others. Cassava also has many uses that could be improved upon to earn forex for the country. From cassava, we can get ethanol, noodles, beverages, clothing materials, glucose and soap,” she said.
In his remarks, Ooni Ogunwusi said pressure is being piled on the naira through preference for foreign goods, adding that products made locally are also good.
“My crown, shoe, necklace, beads, soap, are all made locally. Our leaders should make this a good point of campaign. We should all go back to locally made products and stop complaining about recession. In five years, Ife will be one of the biggest economies in Nigeria and part of our efforts to achieve this is returning our youths to farming.
