Nigeria is the third largest exporter of ginger in the world after China and India. In the Nigerian market ginger is well known and on high demand even though it is quite expensive. Most of the dried ginger that are available for international trade are simply sun dried over a few days, but artificial drying is also used in areas lacking a defined dry season to coincide with the harvest.
The rhizome is dried to between 10 and 12 per cent moisture content. Dried ginger is usually presented in a split or sliced form. Splitting is said to be preferred to slicing, as slicing loses more flavour, but the sliced are easier to grind and this is the predominant form of dried ginger currently in the market.In Nigeria, harvesting of ginger starts from October and normally continues until April/May. This largely depends on the market situation as ginger can be left on the ground (not harvested) for two years.
Ginger is produced in six states of the Federation namely, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue, Niger and Gombe with Kaduna as the major producer. Nigeria production in 2005 was estimated at 110,000 metric tonnes (FAO). In the market, ginger is available in various forms; fresh ginger rhizome, powder ginger and dry ginger rhizome. Out of this, 10% is locally consumed as fresh ginger while 90% is dried primarily for the export markets. Ginger can be processed into a wide variety of products. Many products can be manufactured from ginger like dehydrated ginger, ginger candy, ginger powder, ginger oil and oleoresins and so on. Ginger is an important commercial crop with versatile applications.
It is also used in many medicines as it helps digestion and absorption of food and has antiseptic properties. Ginger based products have wide range of applications in many industries like food processing, pharmaceutical, soft drinks, meat canning, confectionary, tobacco processing, soap making and so on. The demand for the processed products is increasing day by day due to its convenience to handle and use. There are good export prospects as well.
