• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Japan boosts SESAME seed production in Taraba with $197.7m

CSDP disburse N96m for community projects in Taraba

The production of Sesame seeds in Taraba Sate received a boost on Wednesday, when the Japanese government signed a contract of $197, 736 with Hope Afresh Foundation to build a factory to process the seed.

Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yutaka Kikuta, signed for his country, while Anna Ishaku, wife of the state governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku, and the founder of Hope Afresh Foundation, sighed for the organisation.

The governor’s wife is using Hope Afresh Foundation in the area of empowering women and youths.

Sesame is one of the crops whose cultivation is being promoted by the Ishaku administration.

The fund is being provided by the Japanese government under that country’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects.

The Sesame processing project is an initiative of the Hope Afresh Foundation and will be executed in collaboration with Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

Anna Ishaku thanked the government of Japan for the good gesture and assured that the facility will greatly boost sesame seed production in Taraba State. She listed the achievements of the Foundation, which, according to her, included the discovery of Ndola, a community of people who live on the mountains in Taraba State which was previously inaccessible to modern civilisation.

She said following the discovery, the community has now been provided with modern amenities including a police station and health facilities by the Taraba State government.

Governor Ishaku who also witnessed the event joined his wife in thanking the Japanese government for the support to the Foundation and by extension, the Taraba State government.

Ambassador Kikuta assured Taraba of the resolve of his country to support projects that can help in the empowerment of the people.