‘Nigerian agric sector needs public-private collaboration to achieve economic goals’

The need for Nigeria to embrace a more robust public- private sector collaboration to advance the economic contribution of her agriculture sector amid the dwindling price of oil has again been stressed.

Agriculture experts and stakeholders observe that globally, agriculture is the bedrock of sustained economic growth and development, adding that the sector has provided the needed raw material for manufacturing and industrialisation to take place in developed economies.

Industry experts at the AgricBusiness Food Security Summit organised by BusinessDay newspaper with the theme ‘Making Agriculture the Economic Game Changer’ in Lagos, yesterday, advocated for the forging of strategic, well-considered partnerships between government and private sector in the agricultural sector in order to infuse new energy economically, so that Nigeria can thrive.

Bashorun Olajide, permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, who was represented by Bolaji Balogun, a director in the ministry, noted that in the fifties up to the seventies, it was a well acknowledged fact that agriculture was the dominant occupation of the rural population, contributing nearly 90 percent to the rural economy; the largest employer of labour and the major source of raw materials to industries.

Olajide called on the country to reverse the dangerous trend of over concentration on the mono product (oil) and invest in agriculture owing to the economic development role the sector plays in the country.

He stressed the need for strengthening the concept of value-chain development, seeing that it would help grow the sector

Fatai Afolabi, managing consultant/CEO, Foremost Development Service Limited, in his presentation for British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, agricultural growth and development require investment and technology.

Afolabi is sad that public investment in agriculture is still far below what is needed, despite commitments by African governments to allocate 10 percent of their public spending to it.

According to him, “Overcoming geographical and socio-economic barriers is central to achieving inclusive growth and sustainable development, addressing rural-urban differences to ensure more balanced development through job creation and societal transformation will be critical for Nigeria’s future.”

Sotonye Anga, an agribusiness strategist and enterprise development expert, disclosed that access to finance was a hindering factor to the development of small scale farmers, noting that farmers needed to repackage their proposal presentation if they hope to access loans from the banks.

Agribusiness can never go out of fashion because it holds the key to solving unemployment and other social issues, Anga opined.

On his part, Oyeladun Akinsemoyin, president, Nigeria-Vietnam-Chamber of Commerce and Industry, observed that “agriculture is something that is germane to our culture in the past,” but noted that the same cannot be said of today because of the change of value system in the country.

Akinsemoyin blamed the lack of quality standard control and perceived negative image of Nigeria for the seeming clog in the wheel of progress in addressing agriculture potentials of Nigeria across the globe.

KELECHI EWUZIE