Sesame Seed Global Trade Is Now Worth About $480m

Sesame Seed Global Trade …Be Prepared To Start Taking Your Own Share

Nigeria is blessed! Besides oil, Nigeria has a comparative advantage in agriculture in general and the production of economic crops in particular due to the availability of arable land and favorable climatic conditions. One of such economic crops is sesame seed (often referred to as Beniseed), a popular crop that is widely used in parts of the Central, North-Western, and North-Eastern zones of Nigeria where it is usually grown. The local names are ‘Ridi’ Hausa: ‘Ekuku’ Igbo; ‘Isasa’ Yoruba.

What makes sesame an economic crop? This is because sesame seeds are used in culinary as well as in traditional medicines for their nutritive, preventive, and curative properties. It is a rich source of some phytonutrients such as omega-6 fatty acids, flavonoid phenolic anti-oxidants, vitamins, and dietary fiber with potent anti-cancer as well as health-promoting properties. Oil extracted from sesame seeds is the most sought-after vegetable oil in the world because its industrial ingredients can be used for the production of margarine, canned sardine, corned beef, soap, and ink. It is well preferred to other vegetable oils because of its lack of odour, chemical composition, colour, and taste.

For ages, sesame has been a source of food and oil. About sixty-five percent of the annual sesame crop is processed into oil and 35 percent is used in food. And because of the high quality of the oil gotten from the seed, demand for sesame seed has been growing in leaps and bounds in the last 10 years. As the second-largest producer of sesame seed in Africa, producing about 120,000 metric tonnes annually, Nigeria presently controls just around 4% of the global trade worth about $20m in a global trade worth about $480m.

We sure can do more to earn more from the global sesame seed trade. If this business opportunity appeals to you, you could benefit from the original story SuccessDigest published on sesame seed export.