West Africa has one of the largest cocoa producing countries where Nigeria is the 4th largest global producer of cocoa, which means they are literally behind the 3 first producing states which are Ivory Coast, Indonesia, and Ghana, and in terms of exportation, Nigeria is the 3rd largest African exporter, after Ivory Coast and Ghana. Cocoa has been the leading agricultural export of the country with the below-listed states as the cocoa producing States in Nigeria, namely; Edo, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, and Delta.
Groundnut is mainly grown in the northern part of Nigeria, West Africa in large quantities compared to other regions of the country. The below-listed states account for about 83-88% of the production, and they are; Kano, Kaduna, Taraba, Bauchi, Bornu, and Adamawa.
Oil palm cultivation is originally from Western Africa which is located in a tropical area but currently grown throughout Africa, Asia, North America, and South America, currently, Nigeria palm oil production accounts for 7% of total global output. In Nigeria, the major oil palm producing states include:Enugu, Imo, Ondo, Edo, Cross River, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Rivers, Anambra, Oyo, Abia, Edo and Ogun State.
The Nigerian ginger is highly sought for. The demand for ginger in Nigeria outweighs its production. It is a seasonal Agro commodity that has a wide range of domestic and commercial value and uses.
Nigeria is the largest producer of Soybean in West Africa, and its major producing states are Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Kwara, Oyo, Jigawa, Taraba, Borno, Benue, Bauchi, Lagos, Sokoto, Plateau, Zamfara and Abuja FCT. Soybean is also called Glycine max, it’s among the species of legume and widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses. In Nigeria, it grows majorly in the middle belt accounting for 65-75% of the production in Nigeria.
Cotton has been a major cash crop in Africa, mainly in Nigeria, the areas cotton is grown in Nigeria is concentrated in the Savannah belts of the country which is the Northern & South Western Nigeria such as Kano, Kaduna, Oyo, Ondo, Kwara, Katsina, Jigawa, Ogun, Kebbi, Sokoto & Zamfara state. Cotton belongs to the Gossypium family, it has a soft in texture, fluffy in nature and is a staple fibre that grows in a boll (boll tend to increase the dispersal of the seeds) around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the family of Malvaceae. Production of cotton in the country has been in existence since 1903, until 1974, the British Cotton Growers Association has been taking the lead.
Kaolin Minerals - Among the mineral resources in Nigeria, West Africa that can be found in commercial quantity, Kaolin is one them, it is found in the following listed Nigerian states; Adamawa, Borno, Abia, Delta, Ekiti, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, and Plateau State, there has been a rough calculation on the kaolin mineral deposit reserve in the country which amounts to about 2 billion metric tonnes. Kaolin or China clay has a texture of a soft powder and whitish in colour, it is a rock which is rich in kaolinite which implies that kaolinite is the principal mineral consistent Kaolin. It has a melting point of 1750 °C and is a clay mineral, part of the group of industrial minerals, with the chemical composition Al2Si2O5.
Bitumen is one of the richly deposited mineral resources in Nigeria and in some Africa countries, just like crude oil, it is found in Ondo, Lagos, Ogun, and Edo State. Bitumen was discovered first in the 1900s, with exploration beginning in 1905. A technical and economic evaluation of Bitumen in Nigeria was conducted and it was observed that it contain oil which accounts for more than 13 to 14 billion barrels of oil.
Nigeria accounts for about 65-70% of the total sorghum production in West Africa. It is produced in Bauchi, Borno, Zamfara Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa, Kaduna, Jigawa, Niger, Kebbi, Taraba, Plateau, Sokoto, Katsina, and Nasarawa. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a grass plant with tiny grains that grows well in warm climates and is widely cultivated in Australia, Africa, Asia, Mesoamerica and India.
