Tag: HarvestPlus

Agriculture remains the bastion of the economy, stakeholders have said.

They spoke at an empowerment seminar by the Dominican Centre for Human Resources Development (DCHRD) for agricultural business men and women.

They said agriculture contributes 47 percent to the rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs about 70 percent of our total population. It accounts for 10 percent of our export earnings. Nigeria’s foreign direct investment (FDI) stands at $6.1 billion and her GDP keeps growing at 7.7 percent, thus making the country one of the fastest growing economies in the world, they said.

One of the key messages to the over 150 participants at the eventr was that Nigeria’s future rests on agriculture and those who undertake to invest in it.

The speakers dissected the agricultural sector and proffered solutions.

HarvestPlus Nigeria, in line with its objectives of promoting biofortified staple crops and foods to tackle hidden hunger, malnutrition and poverty as well as empowerment of Nigerians with requisite skills in Vitamin A cassava production, value addition and marketing, partnered the Dominican Centre to organise the three-day training for the church.

The seminar held at St Dominic Catholic Church, Yaba. DCHRD, the arm of St Dominic Catholic Church responsible for grooming investors in agricultural business, tagged the three-day session as ‘Wealth creation through agriculture.’

Declaring the seminar open, Fr. Fortunatus Okeke, Director, DCHRD, welcomed the participants to a new era in the history of Nigeria and urged them to utilise the opportunities presented by the training to empower themselves economically. “The seminar is conceived to make a statement that despite the fact that Lagos doesn’t have much land space for agriculture, the state can become a hub for other opportunities in the agricultural value chain. Some of these opportunities include: job creation, poverty reduction, capacity building, and helping individual and corporations in creating profitable and successful businesses.”

Okeke further said agriculture remains one of the most viable alternatives to oil and agricultural investors are the ones government looks up to in helping to solve the problems of hunger, unemployment and dwindling fortune of the economy.

He urged the participants to learn from the experiences of the professionals from HarvestPlus Nigeria, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), The Dominican Centre, and the special guest of honour, Chief Audu Ogbeh, CEO, Efugo Farms, Makurdi, among others, who were at the training to inspire the investors.

Delivering the keynote address, HarvestPlus Country Manager, Paul Ilona, described agriculture as an orphan sector because of years of neglect by relevant stakeholders. “Nigeria used to be the powerhouse of agriculture in the world; one of the biggest exporters of palm oil, groundnut and cocoa, among other crops. Agriculture benefitted most institutions in Nigeria and created jobs. But the story is no longer the same. The country has gradually become a net food importer,” Ilona said.

He lauded the effort by the  government, institutions and individuals to revive the sector, urging a sustainable programme of action to ensure a speedy recovery of our lost years of agricultural glory.

“Food has no substitute because man just has to eat; and agriculture is the only means through which food is produced. The advanced countries such as the United States, the Netherland, Australia, etc, began their journey to economic greatness with agriculture. In our country where the per capita income is a little above one dollar and over 100 million Nigerians live below a dollar per day, we have no choice but to turn towards agriculture as the only way out of poverty and economic doom,” Ilona further said.

He advised the participants to cease seeing agriculture as a social set up but to regard it as a business and run it applying all known business principles so as to sustain their profit and remain in business for long. He also encouraged them to educate themselves in agricultural business and identify the appropriate agricultural value chain they would like to invest in before making the decision to become farmers.

In his lecture titled: “Making agriculture a realistic enterprise in Nigeria,” Chief AuduOgbeh, said agriculture, as a business, must be protected against foreign competition. crops such as cassava, tomatoes, rice, cotton, maize, and cocoa as well as fish have been identified by the government as those for which local and global demands keep increasing. Investing in growing these agricultural produce will go a long way to enhance the country’s economy and empower the farmers to eradicate poverty and eliminate hunger. To achieve good and sustainable result, Ogbeh said, farmers need government’s help through sound economic policies and technical support. This will enable them to compete with their counterparts in other parts of the world and earn good profit from their investment. Our Government must be firm in their policy and decision making and must ensure that whatever we can produce, we do not import, Ogbeh said.