As the Federal Government and investors in donkey business meet on Tuesday, April 30, to map out modalities on how to regulate the breeding, processing, marketing and exporting of donkeys and donkey products, the Government has pledged support to investors to earn foreign exchange in line with the Government’s diversification agenda in agriculture.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, gave this indication while on inspection tour of facilities established by Earthwheel Logistics Ltd, a private company with multi-billion naira investments used in breeding, processing, marketing and the export of donkeys and donkey products located at Ufuma, in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra state.
Earthwheel Logistics in collaboration with its partners, Donkey Skin Processors Marketers and Export Association, is seeking for permit from the Federal Government to breed and export donkeys and products along its value chain. According to the Director of Earthwheel Logistics, Destiny Izuchukwu Osili, the investors have established donkey ranches in Bauchi and Jigawa states since 2012, including the mini- ranch in Ufuma.
He added that the Export Permit will give them the necessary framework to operate within a regulated environment that will benefit the government as well as create the needed jobs. The investors also work with the Nigerian Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) for a structured framework to breed donkeys to preserve local stock and to tackle the menace of smuggling.
The minister, who expressed satisfaction with the quality of the facilities, lauded Earthwheel Logistics for such massive investments, saying “We have come today and we have seen and I want to express my gratitude to the director of this company for this investment. I also want to take the opportunity to encourage other people to make similar investments.
“We are here as a Federal Government to create the enabling environment for all those who want to invest in any value chain in agriculture to invest without any problem. The federal government will support this investment in any way we can” he said.
Lokpobiri, stressed that to breach the funding gap, the federal government has put some policies in place to provide loans to investors at single digit, stressing that the government will work with Earthwheel Logistics and its partners so that they breed donkeys for export to any part of the world and to also ensure that the stakeholders work with government to guarantee the required global standard to protect the country’s image.
“That is why we are here to install proper quality control, work with the company to ensure that they succeed in the business so that other people can also follow suit. “We need to substitute petro-dollars with agric-dollars,” he said.
The Minister however, raised concerns over the threats of extinction being faced by donkey species in Nigeria even as he urged an intensification of a programme of donkey breeding by stakeholders in the business to replenish the declining donkey population in the country.
Destiny Osili, in his speech while welcoming the minister, appealed to the Federal Government to grant them the Export Permit to meet with the international needs of the market. “This will help us to continue to pay our workers numbering 220 and make us a foreign exchange earner in line with federal government policy,” Osili said.
He noted that the permit will also help enhance trade and provide the regulatory framework that “will put an end to the activities of smugglers slaughtering these donkeys in an unaccountable manner. With that legal backing we can help the ministry checkmate and stop these criminals from their dangerous activities,” he said.
He assured the minister that the company has developed a roadmap to breed donkeys not only to meet the commercial needs but also to be locally available in large numbers to serve numerous local needs, stressing that to that extent donkeys will never be extinct.
“Our roadmap to achieving the above has since been put in place by our synergy with the Nigerian Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI). Our projection is to breed donkeys in millions within a short period of time to guarantee that these needs are met,” Osili said.
The National Chairman of Donkey Skin Processors Marketers and Export Association, Bala Abdulkarim, expressed optimism that the government has turned attention to local investors, which he said will boost industrialization as long as donkey business is concerned.
Speaking on behalf of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman of the association, Ifeanyi Dike, told reporters in an interview that his association decided to partner with Director of Earthwheel in the sense that he is the first to invest in this particular business. He urged the government to “assist investors in the donkey business just the same way the government supported the rice farmers with about N60 billion.”
Donkey skin is very important because of a substance called gelatin or ass-hide glue. It is used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is called ejiao, which now has multiple uses.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
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