Commodity brokers move to support FG’s non-oil export plans

Commodity Brokers Association of Nigeria (CBAN) is gearing up to support the Federal Government’s plan in boosting non-oil export through value addition of commodities in light of dwindling oil resources.

The current administration has made agriculture a topmost priority through its transformation agenda and the Commodity Exchange Brokers Association says they are already advocating on the structure provided by the agricultural value chain to ensure farmers are exploring the opportunities accordingly.

Altine Shehu Kajiji, national president of CBAN, said at a press conference in Abuj, that “80 percent of farmers in the country are not getting value for their product. We are consistently on advocacy to ensure that farmers, especially those in the rural areas, cash into the opportunities presented by the commodity exchange.”

According to the president of the association, they are working closely with the Federal Government on the commodity warehousing system that was launched earlier in July by Olusegun Aganga, the minister of industry, trade and investment, which would give farmers, processors and commodity dealers the opportunity of storing, preserving their commodities upon which they would be issued electronic warehousing receipt system with value equivalent to the commodities warehoused.

According to stakeholders, the potential of commercial agriculture markets and commodities exchange are enormous, and currently stands at $297.24 billion, exposing the reason the Federal Government cannot ignore the opportunities it posses in the non-oil sector category, in addition to oil price falls.

The president of CBAN expressed further concerns that a lot of the wastages often seen in food production could be corrected with value addition enabled by commodity exchange in the country. Also, commodity exchange naturally brings about portfolio investment in the country because of the value chain link that create ready market in it.

Some analysts believe that the commodity warehousing industry, which is a private sector form of the defunct government-owned commodity exchange boards, is a strategic means of improving the nation’s revenue amid the dwindling oil resources, since it has contributed immensely to the economy of countries like Ethiopia and Tanzania.

But Kajiji was of the view that working closely with the Federal Government, farmers would be given the capacity to tap into the opportunities the value chain presents through the agricultural sector and other commodity.

As a measure of capacity boosting of its members, the president said that plans were underway as regards collaboration with experts on a capacity development strategy, especially the Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry, Central Bank of Nigeria, commercial banks, micro-finance banks with greater focus in aspects of financing warehousing and funding.

The president of the association also revealed that CBAN members across the country were about 800, as proper legislative backing for the commodity exchange would explore the huge resources in the market, put at N500 billion.

Harrison Edeh