Agventure Commodities inaugurates new sesame processing facility in Kano, Nigeria

NIGERIA—Agventure Commodities Ltd, a leading agrifood tech group in Nigeria, officially inaugurated a new sesame hulling unit in DawakinTofa Local Government Area, Kano State, on November 18.

The facility, with a processing capacity of 7,000 tonnes of sesame seeds annually, is designed to boost Nigeria’s sesame production capacity and enhance the country’s export potential.

Built to international food manufacturing standards, the facility employs advanced technologies such as dry hulling and colour sorting.

Sheeju Prabhakaran, Managing Director of Agventure Commodities, emphasized that the new plant will help drive sustainable growth in Nigeria’s agricultural sector and provide crucial support to local sesame producers.

“Our new facility is designed to enhance production capacity, strengthen export potential and drive sustainable growth in the agricultural sector. It is built to international food manufacturing standards and uses state-of-the-art technologies including dry hulling and colour sorting,” said Sheeju.

The commissioning of this hulling plant comes at a time when Nigeria’s sesame production is experiencing significant growth.

According to AFEX Commodities Exchange, the country will harvest 613,000 tonnes of sesame in 2024, a 5.7% increase from the previous year’s harvest of 581,000 tonnes.

This growth, which represents the fourth consecutive year of increased production, is largely driven by the expansion of cultivated areas. More than 4% additional land has been dedicated to sesame cultivation, a response to rising seed prices, which have surged by 55% due to growing international demand.

The increase in sesame production is expected to positively impact Nigeria’s export revenues.

The International Trade Centre (ITC) estimates that the country could export over US$570 million worth of sesame in 2024, a significant rise from the US$151.5 million generated from exports in 2023.

According to analysts, the expansion of processing facilities like Agventure Commodities’ new plant is crucial for improving the sector’s export capacity and strengthening Nigeria’s position in the global sesame market.

Agventure Commodities, which also processes and markets other agricultural products such as cashew nuts, cocoa, ginger, and hibiscus, operates in several cities across Nigeria, including Ibadan, Oyo, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kogi.

The new facility in Kano will further strengthen the company’s footprint in Nigeria’s sesame sector and provide a vital outlet for local sesame producers, helping to meet the growing international demand.

Nigeria remains the leading sesame producer in West Africa and the third-largest producer on the continent, after Sudan and Tanzania.

The new processing facility and increasing production levels are poised to position Nigeria to capitalize on its untapped export potential in the global sesame market.

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