Nigeria: Yobe sesame farmers excited about new processing hubs

Sesame farmers in Yobe State have expressed happiness with the establishment of sesame processing plants for standard packaging and export to global markets. The farmers said the processing plants and farm inputs would raise annual sesame production in the state to over 60,000 tonnes. The processing plants are expected to improve the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state. Daily Trust gathered that the state government expended N3.5bn in building four ultra-modern sesame seeds cleansing, processing and packaging factories in Machina, Potiskum, Nguru and Damaturu LGAs. Rabiu Adamu, a sesame farmer in Machina, told Daily Trust that some farmers and traders were mixing the sesame seeds with sand to increase their weight. He expressed optimism that with the newly constructed sesame processing centres, sesame farmers in Nigeria had an advantage due to demand and supply mismatch, coupled with good pricing. He said, “This habit of adulteration of the grains is quite unfortunate, ...