WACOT trains farmers to boost sesame farming

Speaking at the occasion, WACOT General Manager, Mr. A. Biswas, said the company has carried out farmers’ training programmes on sesame through its value chain – from land preparations to marketing. Biswas said the programme is designed to encourage and increase sesame production in the state adding that  WACOT is also engaged in extension services and […]

Speaking at the occasion, WACOT General Manager, Mr. A. Biswas, said the company has carried out farmers’ training programmes on sesame through its value chain – from land preparations to marketing.
 Biswas said the programme is designed to encourage and increase sesame production in the state adding that  WACOT is also engaged in extension services and envisages buy back of the product from the farmers.
“Marketing of this commodity as observed by the company is one of the major uncertainties that dissuade farmers of the state from going into sesame farming despite its potentials and WACOT assures Gombe State farmers of buying all the sesame they can produce,” he said.
He said WACOT has been in the sesame procurement business in the last eight years in other states like Bauchi, Jigawa, Kano, Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Nasarawa, Niger and the FCT.
“The company is already present in the entire value chain of sesame crop, from extension services to farm inputs to harvest, procuring of raw sesame, processing and exporting of hulled sorted sesame to highly prestigious and quality conscious markets in Europe, Middle East, Japan and Korea.”
Biswas said the company intends to provide sesame seeds for cultivation to new areas as well as provide extension services for achieving higher yields, saying Gombe is a logical choice, as the company already has a strong presence in the state through its cotton ginning operations.
“To this effect WACOT has distributed treated sesame seeds free to over 200 farmers in Gombe State for the 2013- 14 seasons,” he said.