Mrs. Enobong Akpabio is the Executive Director, Greenport Nigeria, a greenhouse horticulture impact cluster, with a vision to empower the next generation of horticulturists and promote inclusive, sustainable agriculture, thereby laying the foundation for food security in Nigeria. She shares the story of how the organisation, with its partners, is leveraging the impact cluster to train local farmers in the latest techniques and technologies to grow crops to feed the local population and create a sustainable source of income with DANIEL ESSIET.
She leveraged her training and consulting background to kick-start a flourishing career in business consultancy focused on agriculture, technology management, and entrepreneurship development. Today, the Executive Director, Greenport Nigeria, a greenhouse horticulture impact cluster, Mrs. Enobong Akpabio, has become the reference point in agro-entrepreneurship training to help farmers run their businesses better.
She is helping to close, or at least, bridge the knowledge and skills gap in the agric industry where, since exiting paid employment, her commitment to empowering the next generation of horticulturists has been quite visible. “Entrepreneurship found me the moment I made up my mind to exit paid employment and my choice sector to start my business was agriculture,” Enobong recalled.
Shortly after, Enobong said she discovered the knowledge and skills gap in the industry and pronto, “My training and consulting background kicked in and I began to engage in agro-entrepreneurship training to help farmers run their businesses better.” And as she got involved with more farmers in training, collaborations, and projects, she began to better understand the mindset, experience, challenges, and dreams of Smallholder Farmer (SHF) or rural farmers.
“It was at this point that I transited again, this time to social entrepreneurship. I’m determined to build on that nexus between agriculture and community development,” Enobong declared, adding that she has been in search of innovations primed to ignite fresh opportunities, spur demand, and trigger economic growth; her priority is to push for greater change in the agriculture sector.
Consequent upon her avowed commitment to help change the dynamics in the agric sector, Enobong channelled her expertise, energy and resources to grooming a community of food producers. And her efforts in this regard paid off, with Enobong expressing joy over the emergence of young entrepreneurs who are now changing the agri-business space by creating wealth for themselves and others.
Enobong reiterated that the establishment of Greenport Nigeria was relevant and timely in the context of agribusiness in Nigeria. Her words: “I serve as Executive Director in Greenport Impact Cluster Nigeria Limited, a purpose-built organisation for the promotion and enhancement of cluster agribusiness in Nigeria.
“At Greenport Nigeria, we believe that partnership and collaboration will speed up the growth and progress of the agriculture sector, and so, we’re building mutually beneficial relationships with partners in the industry, academia and government bodies to ensure that the sector and the players achieve greater productivity, profitability and sustainability.
“My colleagues and I have gathered decades of knowledge and experience in the industry as business owners and come to the conclusion that the ‘forest’ that the industry needs to ‘make’ will not be the perspiration of ‘one tree’ but through partnership and collaboration. We faced challenges running our ‘silos’ enterprise journeys and came to the conclusion that this is the way to go.”
She explained that one of the goals of the organisation is to use science and technology to improve the livelihoods of farmers. “Our partners include promoters of agritech and other technologies that can provide better efficiency and profitability for agribusinesses.
“We will engage them, share our operational structure with them, provide them with information about the sector and industry and the ROI expectation of business owners, so they understand that technology, for us, is an enabler, a solution, and not a bragging right,” Enobong stated.
According to her, there are several technologies for the improvement of businesses in the food industry and her organisation is engaging the promoters and looking forward to more innovations in the future. “The organisation supports the idea of grass root entrepreneurial seed producers in the rural areas and is ready to train them on improved agronomic and business management practices,” she said.
As she explained, “Seeds are at the core of the life of the crop farming business. They are what plants need to be able to grow and survive. The quality of the seed, therefore, is the foundation of any successful agribusiness. At Greenport Nigeria, we are concerned about seeds that are both climate-resilient as well as pest-resilient.
“To ensure that our cluster communities have access to good seeds for their businesses, we will provide them with the knowledge, through training, on how to identify and propagate good quality seeds, and also engage government agencies responsible for seeds standards, monitoring and regulation, to contribute to the developments in that sub-sector.”
Greenport Nigeria, The Nation learnt, was established and incorporated in 2022, but in such a short time, it has had widespread goodwill and influence in the industry as the voice of cluster agriculture in Nigeria. Apart from building capacities, the organisation is taking the issue of food waste seriously.
Enobong observed, for instance, that “Food waste/food loss is a massive global problem. There are too many reasons for food waste – bad weather, processing problems, over-production, unstable markets, inadequate recycling facilities, irresponsible consumption, food politics, etc. As much as we desire to contribute hugely to global food supply and food security efforts, Greenport Nigeria will embrace smart agribusiness practices to minimise food waste.”
She said so far, the organisation is happy to be reckoned as a player in the quest to improve local entrepreneurship in agriculture through agribusiness cluster formation and the development of collaborative value chains. She added that in the next five years, the plan is to spread the message of agro wealth across Nigeria through the establishment of clusters for agribusiness development and transformation.
Indeed, for the Greenport Nigeria boss, agriculture has the capacity to create huge opportunities with young entrepreneurs modifying their business-models and exploiting market opportunities. And it was in furtherance of this that Greenport Nigeria established a cluster that brought together a consortium of local and international partners to train local farmers in the latest techniques and technologies.
Some of the partners include Viscon NL, Priva NL, Seed2Feed NL, Leiden Delft Erasmus NL, Koppert Biological Systems NL, JMSF Agribusiness Nigeria Ltd, Pan African Seeds NL, Eupesia Place Nigeria, and the African Farmers Stories Initiative. The training allows local farmers to grow crops to feed the local population and to create a sustainable source of income.
Greenport Nigeria provides the latest in seed technology, greenhouses, and biological pest control solutions that can be replicated across the country. The company’s collaboration with innovators will leverage their expertise and technology to create a self-sustainable greenhouse horticulture sector in Nigeria, where locally grown crops will form the backbone of the country’s food system.
Enobong believes that with Nigeria’s population growth rate still among the highest in Africa, with roughly 200 million people, it is important to inspire different stakeholders in the agriculture landscape to have a sense of urgency in solving the issues in food production and consumption.
“Ordinarily, large population should not be a problem for any country the size of Nigeria. Nigeria is endowed with enormous material resources, especially in agriculture that can deliver immense benefits to our economy and the living standard of our people,” she said, noting, however: “My concern is that our people are not strategically galvanised for productivity and resourcefulness.”
As Enobong put it, “We are industrious, no doubt about that, but lack the conducive environment to translate these to growth and advancement. This, to me, is what makes our large population a burden rather than a blessing.
“In countries where agriculture offers a roadmap for empowering farmers, ensuring food security, and propelling the sector towards a brighter future, the emphasis is on modernising the farm sector through greater investments in upgraded storage, streamlined supply chains and branding to enhance overall efficiency and competitiveness.”
She lamented that in Nigeria, the agric sector is facing a supply chain problem with cases of delays in deliveries from various suppliers. Her words: “Supply chain inefficiency in the agriculture sector in Nigeria stems from infrastructural failure – poor development and poorer maintenance.
“Our agricultural products, food and non-food, come mostly from the rural areas where they are produced to the urban areas where they are consumed but the rural areas have possibly the worst transportation network. The roads are terrible, where they exist, and have no rhyme or rhythm.There are poorly conceived rail networks, where they exist, to facilitate the movement of agro-cargo; and the cargo airports are busy moving passengers.”
In addition, Enobong said there’s manifest lack of standards and regulation. She insisted that the government needs to double efforts to support value addition, boost farmers’ income and reposition the sector for inclusive and balanced growth and productivity.
Another area of concern to the seasoned agro-entrepreneur and trainer is irrigation. She captured her frustration in this regard thus: “Nigeria has lots of water bodies which can be utilised for multiple purposes, including irrigation for crop agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, etc.
“These water bodies provide huge potential for the development of agriculture in Nigeria. The government (federal, state, and local governments) needs to provide, adopt and implement policies that will guide the utilisation of these assets to enhance the nation’s growth and development.”
She also harped on the need for all the tiers of government to set and monitor quality standards for fertilisers, seeds and machinery, and leave the business of production, distribution, sales and services to the private sector.
Enobong also emphasised that infrastructure projects should address productivity and logistical challenges that limit output and export capacity. “All are priority requirements for the growth of the agriculture sector in Nigeria – road, rail, air, electricity, energy, policies, justice system, security of lives and property,” she said.
Others are extension services, inter-government agency cohesion and support (federal, state, local government, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), academic institutions, research institutions, foreign embassies, and many more.
“We also need to address our customs/export procedures and facilities, shipping procedures and facilities, eliminate the notorious incidents of extortion of agro-businesses on our roads, arrest insecurity that prevents farmers from going to their farms and causing enormous loss of lives and property, provide information and knowledge on the nation’s export policies and support system etc.,” she added.
