By Adadareporters
Nsukka province of Enugu State has the capacity to feed the entire South-East region of Nigeria if its natural potentials were optimally utilised.
This is the view of the Director General of Nsukka Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, Mr Uchenna Nnadi. Nnadi, a financial and business management consultant with speciality in governance and risk management, said the province has rivers, fertile lands and the markets, being the eastern gateway to the northern parts of Nigeria.
He mentioned some of the rivers in the area to include Omabala in Ogurugu, Obina at Ojor, Adada, Amanyi and Ebonyi. According to him, these rivers, aside providing food through irrigation for all-year farming, can provide enough dams for electricity generation.
He told our reporter that, “The Omabala river at Ogurugu with the Institute of Fishery and Aquatic Studies will provide sufficient export of blue economy products, and take off the perennial flooding in that area.”
He further said the rivers could be dredged for transporting agricultural products out of the province. He recalled that Ogurugu river/seaport was used to evacuate oil palm produce during the colonial period, adding that the famous Adani Farm Settlement came from Obina river while the defunct Adada Cattle Ranch arose on the shores of Adada river.
According to him, “Nsukka province is the second largest source of garden eggs, tomatoes and chili peppers after the northern Nigeria’s supply to South East. But absence of water, modern agro-inputs and functional agric-extension services has kept this sector suboptimal. The division has the largest private sector oil palm plantations in the South East, but they are now at different levels of abandonment owing to insecurity and policy support.”
He regretted that the location of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has not been impactful in terms of research for agricultural development of the zone. He said, “UNN is equipped with agriculture and engineering knowhow and structures that the province can collaborate with in town and gown programmes to transform the area into agro and industrial global hub. This has been articulated in greater details in Igbo Nsụkka Vision of UNN.
“Nsukka honey is one of the global best given its unique unpolluted flora. For instance, cashew and shea butter honey is highly sought after blends. Nsukka division lies in cashew belt and strips of shea butter, among other diverse flora. Traceability and global Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) have been limiting Nsukka honey production and processing for export or even in large scale throughout the year.
“Nsukka Yellow Pepper (Ose Nsukka) has met all the requirements to be pronounced a geographical indication product. But lack of water and other agro-infrastructure has kept its production and processing to a very low level, precluding large scale processing and export.”
Our correspondent reports that Nsukka province comprises seven local governments of Igbo-Etiti, Igbo-Eze North, Igbo-Eze South, Isi-Uzo, Nsukka, Udenu and Uzo-Uwani.
