Nollywood filmmaker and entrepreneur, Mbong Sule, is promoting Cross River State’s agricultural potential by taking raw honey sourced from Obudu to consumers outside the state.
Sule, who spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said Cross River could create more businesses and employment opportunities by developing its agricultural resources alongside its well-known tourism attractions.
She said she is pursuing the initiative through her company, Southern Girl Co. Ltd., which sources raw honey from Obudu and processes it into products for consumers in other parts of Nigeria.
According to her, Cross River is widely known for its tourism sites and natural attractions, but the state also has significant agricultural resources that can be developed into commercially viable products.
“I think it’s important that we find ways to commercialise these resources, create opportunities within the value chain, and ultimately put Cross River in an even brighter light,” Sule said.
She explained that the honey is being sold in its original form as well as in different varieties, including ginger, lemon-ginger and Madagascar vanilla-infused honey.
Sule said the decision to develop different honey varieties followed a market survey which identified demand for flavoured honey products.
She added that the products were recently introduced at the African Travel Market Festival, where participants sampled the different varieties and showed interest in their source.
The filmmaker said taking Obudu honey to a wider market could demonstrate how agricultural resources from Cross River communities can be transformed into products with greater commercial value.
“I am particularly excited about what this can mean for Cross River, because we talk so much about the state’s tourism and natural beauty but there’s also so much agricultural wealth here,” she said.
Sule also disclosed that the honey business is part of her wider entrepreneurial activities, including Southern Girl Kitchen, which focuses on indigenous dishes from Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
The initiative highlights the possibility of combining agriculture, food processing, entrepreneurship and tourism to promote Cross River products and attract wider attention to the state’s natural and economic resources.
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