Oyo Targets Higher IGR with new Cashew Factory

By Dipo Olowookere

Oyo State government has expressed its joy over the Federal Government’s approval for the establishment of six cashew factories for export in the country.

Oyo State is among the six states of the federation where the proposed cashew-processing factories ‎for export will be sited.

The other states include Enugu, Imo, Benue, Kogi and Kwara.

At the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, the Federal Government said a popular store in the United States called Walmart, requested from Nigeria 130,000 tons of roasted cashew nuts valued at $7 billion.

In order to meet this demand and others, the FG said it was setting up these factories across the cashew belt areas.

Reacting to this, the Oyo State government said the inclusion of the state in the belt area was a testament to the efforts being made by the agricultural drive of the administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the state government said the Mr Ajimobi-led government has been keen on diversifying the state’s economy by focusing on agriculture.

This, it explained, was evident in the commencement of the AgricOyo and Integrated Agriculture programme, which sought to encourage people especially youths to latch on to the agricultural drive of the government.

The statement said with the establishment of the cashew factory in Oyo State, more development will come to the state, which is largely agrarian owing to the availability of arable lands.

“This will also provide employment opportunities for the teeming youths in that area and in turn improve the economy of the state hence increasing the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) accrued to the state since the state would not just be producing the cashew nuts for local consumption but also for the factories that would facilitate the exportation to the other countries of the world,” the state government said.