Private sector rallies around Nigeria’s Agriculture Transformation Agenda at World Economic Forum on Africa.

[FMINigeria]

                        Nigeria's Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina stated unequivocally that the government's efforts to change the face of agriculture in Nigeria and restore Nigeria's lost glory in global food production has achieved significant successes.

The Minister who was attending the World Economic Forum in Cape Town with President Goodluck Jonathan spoke to a high level audience of global policy makers and private sector representatives about Nigeria's Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).  He highlighted progress in Nigeria's agriculture sector over the past 18 months and discussed plans to unlock the untapped opportunities in the country's agriculture sector.

"We have unleashed an agricultural transformation by looking at agriculture as a business and not a development programme with growth driven by private sector-led investments. We need to create wealth, not manage poverty;" said, Dr. Adesina.   "Nigeria is set to become a major contributor to global food and nutrition security and poverty eradication through the creation of the right business conditions and government support to smallholder and large scale farmers to significantly expand agricultural."

Speaking directly to African and global investors as well as Pan-African heads of state and influencers from the WEF stage in Cape Town, the Minister emphasized the need to diversify the economy's reliance on oil.  "Nobody drinks oil, nobody smokes gas.  The future of Nigeria is in agriculture," stated, Adesina.  "This administration will continue to strengthen the policy and investment climate to attract private sector money and improve the competitiveness of Nigeria's agricultural sector across the continent as well as support farmers all across the country."

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is also focused on transforming Nigeria's financial landscape through innovative financing approaches to solve agricultural value chain breakdowns and give small agribusinesses and farmers access to credit.  "Transforming the agricultural sector is key to Nigeria's strategy for growth, given both the important role agriculture plays as a key driver of economic growth in Africa and the need to address global food and nutrition security. You can't eat oil and you can't smoke gas" said, Dr. Adesina. "We are expanding farmers' access to financial services to allow them to build their productive assets, diversify income sources and enhance their resilience."

In a packed private session of investors and donors at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, the Minister also announced the creation of 14 high potential agricultural production areas where dedicated infrastructure support, including roads, power and water and other benefits will be provided to private sector investors who will help improve the local agricultural landscape for small and large-scale farmers.  These staple crop processing zones will work to link production, processing and end markets to improve Nigeria's contribution to the agricultural value chain.  In the session, the Minister outlined investment opportunities in cassava, rice, fisheries, beef, dairy and fruit concentrate.

Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria