By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Walnuts, have been found to have many investment opportunities as the African walnut (king of nuts) is mostly found in Nigeria and other African countries.
China is the world’s largest producer of this crop, accounting for about 50 per cent of the total global output. The US ranks second, accounting for nearly one-third of the global production of walnuts. The European Union, Ukraine, Chile, Turkey, and Moldova are the other top countries for walnut production.
In Nigeria, Walnut has the answer to the economic problems of Nigeria and Africa for example, from the over 84 million hectares arable in land available in Nigeria. If 5 million hectares is devoted to Nigerian young farmers for the production of industrial walnut, it will engage over 100 youth or more, the National President, National Walnut Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NAWAGPMAN), Dr. Austine Maduka.
These opportunities in Walnut are located in a wide variety of industries including healthcare, wholesale trade, retail, financial services, educational services, information, enterprise management, business support, manufacturing, leisure, R&D, real estate, and hospitality.
It is an excellent soft grit abrasive media used for blast cleaning and tumbling. The shell is used by the oil industry as lost circulation material and as a filter media cleaning produced water.
Dr Maduka said though there are no figures or statistics of walnut in Nigeria, as what is obtainable is that of wild crops that are still at the local trading level, he posited that the crop can fetch Nigeria N100 billion yearly and create direct and indirect employment for over 5,000 people.
He added that if the value chain for production, handling, processing and marketing of the commodity were properly developed, the country would reap bountifully from walnut in terms of revenue and employment generation.
Maduka said: “Within and around Omo and Shasha Forest Reserves in Ogun and Osun states respectively, data obtained were analysed by means of descriptive and inferential test statistics. An estimated 30.01kg of African walnut was extracted per month between May and September each year in the forest reserves, contributing about N615, 833.30 to the rural economies of both areas. About 17.0 per cent of respondents generated income between N11, 000.00 and N20, 000.00 per month, representing up to 50.0 per cent of their monthly income during the production period.
“Forty to 50kg of nuts can be gotten per walnut tree. Imagine how many nuts you will get from 100 trees. Five pieces of walnut goes for N200 in Akwa Ibom State, can you calculate how much you will make just for just a tree, not to talk of a hectare of walnut. You keep harvesting every year once production starts. And harvest increases per year and can go on for 30 years.
“The market for walnuts is large; people are looking for where to buy walnuts in large quantities in Nigeria.”
“Walnut has the answer to the economic problems of Nigeria and Africa. For example, from the over 84 million hectares arable land available in Nigeria, if five million hectares is devoted to young farmers for the production of industrial walnut, it will engage over 1,000,000 youths or more yearly.
“New members and interested individuals should contact our state Coordinators for registration as we are working with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) and Raw Material Development and Research Council to domesticate walnuts in the country,” he added.
Walnut can employ more than 500 workers include field workers. Small businesses are expected to account for most of the future job growth in the Walnut industry.
Walnut value chain is about adding value to walnut through processing of walnut into various utility items for the purpose of maximizing profit. With the right partnership with FMITI, FMARD, RMDRI, State governments, corporate bodies, and other relevant agency, an industrial revolution can be triggered.
Other uses of walnut include:
WALNUT FLOUR AS SUBSTITUTE FOR WHEAT FLOUR
Walnut flour is an excellent flour to use for your baking journey. But there are important facts to know about the flour in order to maximize the flavor. Walnut flour can be tough to use because it comes with a very strong flavor and that will show in your cooking. This is why it is important for you to use another type of flour to balance it out.
HOW TO MAKE WALNUT FLOUR
Making walnut flour is a lot easier than you might think. All you need is the walnuts and a very good blender. All you have to do is just blend the walnuts in the blender. It is advised that you don’t over blend it because you won’t get the flour you want. You might think this contradicts my advice about the grind. But it doesn’t because you need to hit the sweet spot to get the fine grind and not something else.
BLACK WALNUT SHELLS
More than 60 years ago, Hammons Products Company began marketing and selling American Black Walnut shells in the United States. The shells make up a large percentage of the nut and serve as a very useful product for a wide range of applications.
