Nigeria’s agriculture exports to Japan have found a stable niche market as its sesame seeds exports now account for 40 per cent of sesame seeds consumed in Japan.Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, who disclosed this at the 2nd Japan-Nigeria business facilitation council meeting in Abuja, said the trade volume between Nigeria and Japan is now one billion dollars with sesame seeds netting at N113.2 billion for the country in 2021.He also urged the importance of the meeting, citing that currently, 47 Japanese companies were operating in Nigeria, stating that the meeting was critical in proffering solutions to some of the challenges the companies were facing with the Nigeria Customs Service, National Agency for Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), foreign exchange and logistics.The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mrs Saratu Umar, urged other countries to emulate the Japanese model and develop such bilateral councils.“We have a good working relationship with the Japanese embassy and will sustain such to ensure that we jointly work to provide succour to all Japanese companies doing business in Nigeria,” she said.She said Nigeria established a similar platform called OSIC Lab, leveraging the existence of Ministries, Departments and Agencies under the One-Stop Investment Centre, which gives a one-stop solution in resolving investors’ challenges with government agencies. “This I believe will complement the work we do at the Japan Nigeria Business Facilitation Council,” she added.It would be recalled that Nigeria’s agricultural export surged by 57.02 per cent to N504.9 billion in 2021 compared to N321.5 billion recorded in the previous year, which is also the highest agro-export income on record.Sesame seed export which increased in 2021 was stated at N113.2 billion, which is higher than the N98.27 billion recorded in the previous year. Sesame seed export accounted for 22.4% of our total export in the period.Sesame seed comes from a flowering plant mostly grown in Northern Nigeria due to the drought-resistant nature of the seed and used as a source of sesame oil which is the most demanded vegetable oil in the world because of its zero-cholesterol content.