FG Seeks Private Sector Partnership to Boost Agricultural Sector

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has said that the federal government is currently looking to partner the private sector to boost agriculture value chain.
Also, Stanbic IBTC has also restated its commitment towards advisory and financing all components of the agricultural value chain.

Ogbeh said this yesterday at 2016 Stanbic IBTC Business Leadership Series, were the discussion was based on reforms in Nigeria’s agricultural sector with emphasis on improvements in infrastructure, agro-industrial zones, financing and an enabling policy environment crucial for the full exploitation of the agricultural value chain, attainment of food security, employment generation and wealth creation.

Ogbeh who was represented by the the Lagos State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Funlola Olusanya said: “There is need for so much change in the agriculture sector.We would always collaborate with the private sector, we are ever ready to go into partnership were necessary.
“Also the agric transformation agenda we started some years back that looks at the value chain, we also would start looking at not only production but look at processing and preservation. Those are the areas Nigeria also needs intervention,” she added.

On her part, the Chief Executive Officer Stanbic IBTC Holdings at Stanbic IBTC, Mrs Sola David-Borha said: “Agriculture for Nigeria is a game changer. I don’t think anybody in today’s Nigeria is disputing that. We all know the story about the enabling effect of agriculture on our economy the fact that it creates million if jobs across the entire value chain and it can drive export and much needed foreign exchange. I think the real challenge for us is unlocking the opportunity in agriculture and the execution of it, making everything we talk about a reality.”

She further said: “For us at stanbic IBTC, we consider agriculture a keg sector and we play across the entire value chain, financing advisory, machinery, partnership to help drive export. We believe that the platform we present would certainly help in supporting the federal governments drive towards diversification of the economy.”

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Doreo Partners, an agro-focused investment firm Mr. Kola Marshall said his firm had recently raised about $ 40 million to finance about 40,000 farmers in the next couple of years. These farmers he said are mostly unbanked, no permanent address and what most institutions classify as not eligible for financing and the payment rate was 99.9 percent.

Ref: http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/10/21/fg-seeks-private-sector-partnership-to-boost-agricultural-sector/

TRIPPLE YIELDS FOR FARMERS IN JIGAWA.

Farmers in Jigawa on Wednesday said they recorded bumper harvest this year because of high yield grains, favourable weather and provision of inputs by government in 2016.
A cross section of farmers in the state said this in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Dutse.
Malam Abdu Yuhaya of Galamawa Ward of Dutse told NAN that he recorded impressive yield in rice from his farm this year.
Yahaya said that he got 300 bags of rice during harvest compared to the 60 bags he got last year.
He said that he also planted wheat where he was optimistic to get not less than 400 bags after the harvest.
Hajiya Hadiza Abubakar, a farmer in Chei chei village, said that she also got more beans from her farm this year.

Hadiza disclosed that she harvested 120 bags this ear compared to the 20 bags she realised in the previous year.

She attributed the bumper harvest this year to stable rainfall and the availability of ferliliser and other farm inputs.

Malam Haladu Wanzam, another farmer from Kalawa, thanked God for what he got.

Wanzam said for the past 10 years, he had never harvested sorghum, maize, sesame and guinea corn like this year.

He said that the bumper harvest recorded this year was due to stable rainfall and favourable atmospheric condition with availability of farm input. BY NAN-LEADERSHIP NG.

AGRICULTURE the surest means to revamping the nations econmy.

Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday said agriculture sector remained one of the surest means of revamping the nation’s economy, saying his administration remains committed in its efforts to achieve food security.

The governor, who spoke at the maiden edition of the Lagos Food Security and Exhibition Summit with the theme “Actualizing Sustainable Food Security in Lagos State: A New, Comprehensive Agenda’,  urged investors to do business in the agric sector in the state

According to him, there is  a ready market and returns on investment as the daily consumption of food items in the State is worth over N3 billion daily.
He said Nigeria had no business resorting to importation to feed its citizens, adding that there was no alternative to achieving food security other than tilling the land and embrace best practices that will improve efficiency in the agricultural value chain.
The governor said, “Our core policy thrust towards achieving food security is to maximize the comparative advantage of the state in agriculture and establish partnerships with other States of the Federation with comparative advantage in specific areas.”
Listing some areas of collaboration already activated, Governor Ambode said his administration has sealed a landmark partnership with Kebbi State Government for the development of agricultural commodities such as rice, wheat, groundnut, onion, maize and beef value chain, expressing optimism that the partnership can result in the supply of 70 per cent of the total national rice consumption.
“We have also acquired agricultural land in other neighbouring States of Ogun and Oyo as well as Abuja. Specifically, 500 hectares of farm land has been acquired for rice cultivation in Eggua, Ogun State, 84.7 hectares at Okinni in Oshogbo for oil palm processing, among others,” the Governor said.
He said the Lagos Food Security Summit and Exhibition was organized to bring together stakeholders in the Agricultural sector to proffer solutions to the challenges militating against the achievement of food security, noting that the success recorded in the last “Traffic Summit’ that has eased the traffic situation in the metropolis can be replicated in the area of food security in the state.

He therefore said that in the wake of the economic challenges facing the country there was no better time for the nation to review its approach and the redirection of its energies to food production.

“Behind every dark cloud, they say, is a silver lining. One of the challenges the current economic recession has brought to the fore is the urgent need to develop a sustainable programme that will guarantee food security for our people. As a nation, in the past, we spent billions of Foreign Exchange on importation of food and food items many of which can be cultivated in our country.

“Our country is blessed with very good arable land and a climate that supports food production. We can achieve food security and create employment opportunities for our teeming youth if we put in place the right policies and incentives that will attract significant investment into the Agricultural sector,” he said.

Also speaking the  Chairman of the Summit, Alhaji Sani Dangote, lauded the Governor Ambode-led administration for leading being in the forefront in addressing the challenge of food security.

He said the state boasts of a large population with an economy ranked as the fifth largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, a bulging youth population and capital of the nation’s industrial base.

Dangote said despite the shortage of arable land in the state, the state government can leverage on its comparative advantages to not only guarantee food security in the State, but also feed the neighbouring South West states.

He said the state has the capacity to make agriculture a profitable business, which according to him, would encourage youths to take up agriculture as a profession and contribute their quota towards achieving food security. BY GEORGE OKOJIE- LEADERSHIP NG.