A delegation led the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) mission director and comprising of traders from Kenya, representatives from FAO, Stanbic Bank, and Alpha Bank last Thursday visited Wulu County in Lakes State to inspect a Shea butter and honey processing factory.
USAID’s Haven Cruz-Hubbard told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that their visit was to look at the opportunities to scale up the production of honey and Shea butter and other related production in Wulu County.
“We are very excited to be here in Lakes State, especially in Wulu County, and we have had a number of productive meetings with the deputy governor and the Wulu County commissioner and we have been able to observe a lot of local production and traditional production methods because we are looking to bring investors and bank financing so that we can scale up these activities,” Cruz-Hubbard said. “We hope to work in partnership with FAO, private banks, and development banks to make this a reality.”
“We are very happy to be in Wulu to see a lot of output here and we are excited to be with the group over the weekend to find ways to help you mechanize further and to scale up the quantity and quality of processing,” he added.
The lakes State minister of animal resources and fisheries who is the acting agriculture minister, Philip Taban Chir, said they were happy to receive the delegation and that the guests wanted to see how honey and Shea butter are being processed.
“We went to Wulu successfully and we were received by the commissioner and they have seen the honey production and how it is done traditionally by the local people. We also went to women lulu and they have also seen how Shea butter is processed,” Minister Chir said.
For his part, the FAO country representative, Meshack Mallo, said the dividend of peace in Lakes is development and revealed that the Kenyan traders in the delegation were interested in buying honey in bulk.
“I am here together with the USAID head of mission and the traders from Kenya who are willing to buy honey in bulk. And I am here with Alpha Bank and Stanbic Bank who are willing to give money to serious businessmen who want to get into the business of Shea butter and honey,” Mallo said. “We believe that the men and women here in Wulu are doing a wonderful job and we believe that we can give them much support and particularly the market because there is a honey here and around the world, just in neighboring countries like Kenya, people are looking for honey.”
“So, we brought the traders here to see what we can do to export honey from Wulu straight to the market in Kenya and even to Japan. Immediately, one thing that we want to do for the women is to link them to the market,” he added.