Why Nigerian hides, skins losing quality

…FG wades in   Participants at the recently concluded capacity building workshop for butchers, skin collectors and dealers in Kano State have noted that the quality of the country’s hides and skins has drastically reduced. The participants and some experts, who presented papers at the workshop, agreed that the drop in quality is caused by […]

…FG wades in

 

Participants at the recently concluded capacity building workshop for butchers, skin collectors and dealers in Kano State have noted that the quality of the country’s hides and skins has drastically reduced.

The participants and some experts, who presented papers at the workshop, agreed that the drop in quality is caused by butchers, hides and skin collectors and dealers due to lack of knowledge on handing, transportation, preservation and processing of the products.

The workshop, which was organised by the Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC), was aimed at curtailing heavy losses of hides and skins at the first step of production processes.

Speaking at the event, representative of the Director-General of the RMRDC, Dr. G. G. Awolehin, said the losses start with poor animal husbandry practices, especially those that affect hides and skins such as poor nutrition, putting of identification on animals by branding or tattooing.

“Other critical losses also occurred due to non-compliance with appropriate slaughtering techniques, including improper flaying and contamination of the commodity with blood or faeces in abattoirs, poor handling, transportation and preservations,’’ he added.

Dr Awolehin, who is the head of Agriculture and Agro Allied Department of the Council, believes that good leather can only be made from good hides and skins and that there are no chances of obtaining attractive price for hides and skins unless they are free from both visible and invisible damages. Such damages, according to him, may be holes, gouge marks, pockmark, and incipient putrefaction.

In his message, the representative of Kano State governor and the Commissioner of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Alhaji Ahmed Rabiu, said the workshop came when the state has more concerns in the leather sub-sector and commended RMRDC for the intervention.

Kano State chairman of Butchers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Malanta, promised that all the knowledge gained from the workshop would be put into use by his members and urged the state government to emulate the council.

There was technical session where various speakers spoke on how to improve the quality of the country’s hides and skin.