Mushroom producers in Nigeria have signed a memorandum of understanding with American off-takers to export the over forty-billion-dollar annual shortfall of the product to the United States. The agreement was signed in Abuja by the mushroom producers under the aegis of Grassroots Agricultural Cooperative Society Ltd with Mbeng Adio Mushroom Farms Global LCC Delaware, USA, in Abuja, during a training session on mushroom production.
Signing the MoU with the MAMF group from America, president of the grassroots cooperative society of Nigeria, Mr Victor Oluson, said over five hundred thousand mushroom croppers are to be raised to be producing about six hundred thousand kilograms of mushroom daily as part of the deal.
The president of the MAMF group, Bridget Mbeng who is from Cameroon, said the project was being funded by banks in the United States of America who only provide such facilities based on the capacity of partners on the project.
The facilitator of the scheme with headquarters in the state of Delaware, US, Dr Kingsley Obasohan said globally, the mushroom sub-sector boasts of over USD60-billion annually which Nigerian farmers should take advantage of.
“There are over eight thousand mushroom farmers in Nigeria. We are going into cropping mushrooms in 30 states of the federation. Our members are there waiting. We want to change the paradigm instead of looking for people to buy and sell at very ridiculous and terrible prices. We need to change the ball game. We have been working for the past three years now, one of it now is the partnership we are having with the US today. With this arrangement, before the mushroom grower produces, he will know exactly how much he is producing and how much will be available to the buyer,” Olusan said. This measure or effort will eliminate waste, eliminate time lag, eliminate so much and, in the long run, pave the way for higher productivity.”
Source: Leadership Newspaper