Harvest Losses: Kaduna To Establish 15 Cottage Processing Centres

In its effort to reduce post-harvest losses and low income which is considered a big problem facing the Agricultural sector in Nigeria, the Kaduna State Agro Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project is establishing 15 cottage processing centres across the state.

The communications officer of the project, Muhammad Bashir Amin told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the centres which are being constructed in respect of the three value chains (dairy, ginger and maize products) under the Kaduna APPEALS project, will also house equipment capable of handling post-harvest produce as well as machines for storage, cleaning, sorting, processing and packaging.

Amin, however, said that the cottage processing centre for maize has the capacity to process 50,000 tons of maize in a year without going through much stress.

He also mentioned that the centres for milk collection will help preserve milk for future use and make it necessary for the availability of milk for producing dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt.

He added that it is an undeniable fact that ginger is yet another important crop to provide more wealth in Nigeria as increase in its processing and packaging will make it more available in large quantities.