Advertisement
News

FG Moves To Curb Dyes Import, Asks Farmers To Grow Producing Plants

The federal government has said it is putting in place modalities that will reduce foreign exchange expenditure on dyes importation by developing the natural dyes production in the country.

To this end, the government urged farmers and other interested investors to grow plants that are useful for dyes production.

The Director General of the Raw Material Research Development Council (RMRDC), Professor Hussaini D. Ibrahim, disclosed this in a document obtained by journalists.

Among the plants identified by the council for natural dyes production is Lawsonia inermis (Henna). The leaves, the document said, have been extensively used for centuries in parts of Africa as dye for nails, skin, hands, hair and textiles. Complementarily, henna is also used in treating skin problems, headache, jaundice, amebiasis and enlargement of the spleen.

The DG noted that the present high level of importation of dyes is due to the fact that the development of natural dyes in Nigeria has been affected by tedious extraction process and inadequate supply of dye plants since most of the plants are growing in the wild.

Professor Ibrahim noted that in Nigeria, the cost of importation of dyes is increasing annually as about 95 percent of the dyes used locally are imported, adding that the total cost of importation in 2022 has been estimated at N40bn.

He said to obviate this development, the Council initiated a project aimed at developing natural dyes production from plants in 2017 titled “Development of Natural Dyes for the Textile Industries Through the Indigo Dye Plant”.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button