Farmers
FG inaugurates Committee
Farmers
FG inaugurates Committee to Support Small Farmers
Productivity
The Federal Government in
collaboration with Manobi Africa PLC a company based in Mauritius
has inaugurated the National Agcelerant Technical Committee. The
Committee would Mobilize Financial Support for Small Farmers and
also provide Technical Assistance towards improving their capacity
in area of new Agronomic practices and latest Technologies, adding
that it would facilitate improvement in their
Productivity.
Speaking during the inauguration
in Abuja, the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development(FMARD) , Alhaji
Mohammed Sabo Nanono noted that ‘’our agricultural sector is
characterized by low productivity ,under- performing
agricultural value chains ,food import level negatively affecting
our trade balance among others’’
Alhaji Nanono further said that ‘’ we need to
start reversing this trend by harnessing the hug potentials in the
agricultural sector for sustainable development through partnership
and engagement with wiling stakeholders who genuinely believe
in our beloved nation ,and ready to lend us helping hands, he
stressed.
He pointed out that ‘’ the AgCelerant is a novel Value Chain
orchestration platform connecting smallholder contract
farming and producers with banks ,insurers and input providers and
agro-industries to control risks and improve the productivity,
security and welfare of millions of farmers in Sub-Saharan
Africa.’’
The Minister also said that ‘’ the
promotion of phygital Agriculture to encapsulate the emergent
opportunity for robust physically-based, digitally – driven
solution to improve Agricultural production and productivity
in Nigeria towards sustainable and transparent global food
systems of the future cannot be over-emphasized’’, he
added.
To this end, the Hon. Minister
spelt out the Terms of Reference for the committee to include:
Develop areas of partnership and come up with clear objectives of
the progam, Develop strategies and implementation framework for the
program, prepare work plans and budgets over the program lifetime
and year one with activities identified, Draft MOUs that will guide
the involvement and roles rationalization between the partners,
among others. The Committee is chair by the Permanent Secretary
(FMARD), Co- chair by International Crop Research institute for
semi-arid tropics (ICRISAT) / Manobi Africa PLC, Central Bank of
Nigeria, Bank of Agriculture, among others as members, while
Federal Department of Agricultural Extension(FDAE) as
Secretariat.
In
his opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary, (FMARD), Dr.
Mohammed Bello Umar, represented by the Director,
(FDAE), Mrs. Karima Babangida, said that ‘’ according
to the FAO, Nigeria food imports are rising and projected ,for rice
alone ,to reach 5 Million tons by 2028. This dependency on
food imports applies throughout the commodities, we consume,
resulting in a trade imbalance that severely dents our national
budget and threatens to aggravate’’
He
added that there is need to improve the efficient of agricultural
value chains which remains informal, unstructured and
unorganized.
Dr. Umar pledged that ‘’ this first national AgCelerant
Technical Committee will lay the footsteps for the acceleration of
Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector’’. He also charged members to
contribute meaningfully to enable them achieve its objectives.
In his remarks, the Chief
Executive Officer, Manobi Africa, Daniel P. Annerose,
pledged continuous collaboration and Technical Support towards
improving Food Security and Value Chain in the Agricultural Sector
in Nigeria.