In an interview with the National President, National Ginger Association of Nigeria (NGAN), Mr Gagarin Madaki, told New Nigerian Newspapers what the association has been able to do with the inception of the new leadership, what it wants to achieve and the challenges it is facing. AMOS TAUNA captured it.
EXCERPT:
How has it been since you were elected National President, National Ginger Association of Nigeria (NGAN)?
The first thing we did when we were sworn in was to renew all our dues of the association with the office of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), we decided also to renew the tenure of the Board of Trustees and we put our application and we thank God that it has been done some days ago.
Thereafter, we came up with economic plan that what we want to do is to tax the members of the association again by reviewing the regulation fee from N2,000 to N10,000. We are also looking at exporters, processors, farmers, ordinary members, all these is what we hope to achieve and we have decided that we are going to launch them on website and on that portal, anybody that is interested can go on and register as a member of the association.
Thereafter, we decided to pay courtesy calls on the Commissioner of Agriculture, Kaduna State, Commissioner of Business Innovation, Kaduna State and other key government agencies that will partner with us towards rebranding the association. We will use the new office given to the association and we will have the warehouse next to it so that we can start selling ginger to people who are interested that is, good quality processed ginger, so that wherever anyone is, you can send in your money and ginger will be sent to you.
The ginger association is known to have factions, what have you been able to do?
The issue of factions has played a negative role in the association for about 10 years. We decided that we want to put an end to the issue. We have decided to publish the names of the Board of Trustees and the CAC has issued the association with a new certificate.
What do you intend to do to ensure ginger is known globally?
About 98 per cent of ginger from Nigeria is not washed, which brings about development of and our farmers do not allow it to dry properly before they export it which increase the moisture level and it get rejected when it arrives Europe. Europe has its own standard that has to be made and because of that, we have decided that the first thing to do is to get it washed, ensure that it is properly dried and put it in a container and ship it outside the country. Prior to all of these, the next thing we are trying to do is to ensure all the necessary things are done mechanically.
These are things we want to put in place at the various centres. We have also noticed that there are some that goes to different parts of the world. These countries will tell you that Ginger of Nigeria origin has some problems and as a result, they under price our Ginger because it has to meet international standard. As a result, Nigeria Ginger is the least price Ginger in the world. So these are some of the problems we intend to solve. So Ginger has all kinds of uses like pharmaceutical, food and beverages and others and it has to be properly packaged to attract recognition internationally.
Where particularly can we find Ginger in Nigeria?
Well. Ginger can be found in a good places and we are trying to promote it in other places. However, the Ginger in Southern Kaduna is distinct and unique because the soil in that area ensure that it grows well in terms of taste, smell and oil content. The ginger from Southern Kaduna is the best and that is why you see foreigners coming to the area to buy ginger because it has the highest oil content and producing Ginger in order parts of the country, it is not as high as that of Southern Kaduna.
What are some challenges encountered in the business of ginger?
The problem the farmers have is a lot of them are peasant farmers because they produce it in small quantity. They do not have the equipment to ensure large scale farming, they lacked the level of knowledge for satisfication. Nigeria do not export fresh Ginger outside the country.
Nigeria farmers do not have the Certificate of satisfaction and so they will not buy the fresh ginger from Nigeria. Nigeria’s ginger is bought at a low price because it is not washed before it is exported. Our local processors can not be competed with the foreign ones hence the price can not be the same.
The production cost is higher from outside compared with the local way here in Nigeria as a result, the price is not high. It is done locally and sale, only few put NAFDAC number before selling Ginger. So these are some of the challenges that the processors made or encountered.
Transporting it is part of the problem and we as an association want to come in and leverage all of these and ensure that Ginger that is brought to us, we know the source, we can guarantee the farmer. we can guarantee the product, we can guarantee the quality before we sell it, that is where we are trying to go to.
As the National President of the Association, what do you intend to leave behind as a legacy?
Right now, what we have on ground is scattered, we don’t have a proper Ginger association because we can not tell what impact does Ginger has to our local economy, to our economy in Nigeria. We can only tell what we export and that is very unfortunate. So what l want and hope to achieve is increase the standard, introduce ways and measures for us to shift from measuring the product in bags and start measuring the product in kilos.
We should try and encourage our farmers to ensure that Ginger meets international standard before it is being sold in scales. Selling the Ginger in bags cheat the farmer and the buyer. By selling in scales, there is more profit in it. These are things l seriously want to introduce as the National President of the association.
