Description

Any nation that requires economic development must look inwards to identify areas where it has comparative advantage over other nations and seek to develop the identified areas.

Apart from hydrocarbon, Nigeria has comparative in the Agricultural sector where a variety of products are produced due to the favorable climatic condition ,good soil condition and the fact that over 70% of the entire land mass of the country is arable.

Nigeria has comparative advantage in the production and export of sesame seed in Africa over her counterparts due to the large arable land available for production and the conducive climatic condition. The nations presently controls about 4% of the world market export products worth $20mn in a global trade in sesame seed valued at $480mn.

The investor should take advantage of the global sesame seed market which is growing at about 3% annually and increasing the market share of Nigerian sesame seed which is mostly exported to Japan by exporting quality sesame seeds to Europe and America.

Because of the high quality of sesame oil compared to oils gotten from other oil bearing seeds, the demand for sesame seed has been on the increase for the past 10 years.

The total sesame seed export is worth $ 480 m and is growing at the rate of 3% on a annual basis.

Sesame seeds (or sesamum or benniseed) are the seeds of the tropical annual Sesamum indicum.

Based on their colour difference, sesame seed in Nigeria can be classified into two {2} types namely the white/raw and brown/mixed.

The white varieties is usually regarded as the food grade and used in the bakery industry while the brown varieties are referred to as oil grade and used in the production of sesame oil.

The White (Food Grade) seed is grown around the towns of Keffi, Lafia/Makurdi, Doma, and in Nassarawa, Taraba, and Benue States. It is easier to sort and the Fumani/Denin people consume sesame locally.

Based on their colour difference, sesame seed in Nigeria can be classified into two {2} types namely the white/raw and brown/mixed.

In international trade, the required specification of sesame seed is given below

Moisture Content: 6-8% Maximum
Oil Content: 49%
Admixture: 2% Maximum
Other Colours: Less that 2%

The return on investment on the export of sesame seed is estimated at between 10% – 15%.