Nigeria’s shea butter production has received the support of the European Union.

A statement from the Standards Organisation of Nigeria indicated that the European Union through its expert on Technical Barriers to Trade, African Caribbean and Pacific countries’ programme, had started plans to equip Nigerian women with the requisite skills and support to boost shea butter production.

According to the organisation, Nigerian agricultural and allied products now have a major boost in regional and international markets following a recent harmonisation of standards exercise carried out by the Africa Regional Organisation for Standardisation.

It added that the harmonisation was a result of strident calls to make the continent’s agricultural sector competitive globally.

The statement quoted the Director-General of SON, Dr. Paul Angya, as saying that the organisation had made all arrangement to encourage local Shea butter production in Nigeria, adding that the next step was for the nation to prioritise its agricultural sector by making standards available for the sector.

He said, “We have discussed with the African Caribbean and Pacific –Technical Barriers to Trade institutions about supporting shea butter producers in Nigeria and when we go back home, we are going to inform them about the approval of the ACP-TBT project to impact immediately on shea butter production.

“Our agricultural and allied products now have a ready market in Africa. So, it is for us to go back and renew our energy in those priority sectors and teach our people the critical relevant sectors and the availability of these agricultural standards.

“The Small and Medium Enterprises must realise the importance of standards’ application to their own personal enterprises, the capacity of standards to improve their productivity and their profits.”