Nasarawa State has announced a new initiative which joins a history of unprecedented growth, in Ginger production, to suggest that Nigeria may, in the near future, beat India to become the world’s largest ginger producer.
Nasarawa Agricultural Development Programme (NADP) has received collaboration from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in training of workers on ginger production. This training comes as a kind of follow up of earlier training of 200 farmers spread across 13 local governments of the State.
Commenting on this, Nasarawa State Director of the Ministry, who was represented by Mr. Sunday Odogo, disclosed, to NAN, that the two-day training on ginger production in the State was designed to increase ginger production in the country.
Stating Nigeria’s position on world ginger production, he disclosed that Nigeria was one of the best in the world and this fact has motivated the Federal Government to device techniques on using modern techniques in ginger production.
The government’s move to increase ginger production can best be understood by the fact that the Nigerian Export Promotion Commission in its Zero Oil Plan identified ginger, which is used for seasoning and for a mountain of health benefits, as one of the 12 products that can replace oil.
Ginger cultivation in Nigeria can be traced back to 1927 when it started in Southern Zaria and some parts of Plateau State. It majorly thrives in Kaduna and Nasarawa State because of the sandy and loamy soil mixtures of these regions which ginger thrives on.
Odogo identified the present challenge of ginger production as marketing. To solve this, he stated that the farmers would be taught how to process, store, as well as market these products so as to get value from it. According to him, 80 farmers would be trained by extension workers in Nasarawa South, 80 in Nasarawa North and 40 for Nasarawa Central Senatorial Zones.
Nigeria’s growth in ginger production from 1961 to 1978 stood at 80tonnes production capacity. There was a rapid improvement in 1982 as it rose to 1,000.
In 1986, the numbers grew to 15,000. Just 4 years later, it increased to 42,000. Five years after, in 1995, the numbers stood at 79,000.
In 2000, 98,000 were recorded. It got better each passing year as it stood at 125,000 in 2005. The year 2010 also saw an increase to 162,000, 2015 stood at 284,440 while 2017 witnessed 349,895.
In all these improvements, the highest growth so far was recorded in 2013 with 496,920.
Globally, Ginger production in 2013 was 2.1 million tons. India maintained the first position as highest producer by accounting for 33% while Nigeria emerged fifth by accounting for 0.160%.
In 2017, India again emerged as the largest world producer with 1,070,000 production quantity. China followed with 583,126 while Nigeria was third place with 349,895. This number was an improvement to Nigeria’s fifth position in 2015 with 284, 440.
In 2018, Nigeria’s Minister for Agricultural and Rural Development, Chief AuduOgbeh, disclosed that Nigeria had the best ginger in the world. He also highlighted government’s effort by stating that “government is committed to enhancing increase in the volume of our ginger exports and to ensure that our various exportable foods and cash crops are developed to meet global export standards.”
Currently, India is still in the first position with 1,109,000. Nigeria has climbed up the ladder as it is currently on the second position with 522,964 while China sits at third position with 492,905.
