By Charles Nwaoguji
National President, National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), the umbrella organisation of Chambers of Commerce in Nigeria, Iyalode Alaba Lawson, has advocated for re- awaking of Nigerians on Agribusiness opportunities and inter-dependence in Global and Nigerian markets.
While making her presentation as guest speaker at the recently concluded US-Nigeria Agribusiness Summit, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, Iyalode Alaba Lawson enumerated the evolving agricultural trends in Nigeria.
She said: “Nigeria’s human and natural resource endowments despite the high potentials they hold, have not been fully explored owing to the shift from the thriving non-oil sector especially agriculture to deep interest in crude oil and gas in the late 1960s.”
She added: “Despite the immense potentials in Nigeria’s agriculture sector, it is still faced with some challenges as apparent in many other emerging economies. These include, inadequate infrastructure such as roads, rail, ports, power and bridges; access to finance; market access and value chain development; obsolete agricultural practices, technology and low mechanisation; increasing standardisation and quality management requirements.
Others include storage, packaging and processing structures and facilities leading to the loss of over 40 per cent of agricultural produce during harvest seasons; insufficient agricultural research materials and information dissemination; poor understanding of agricultural policies and the benefits they offer.
A NACCIMA statement explained that she also emphasised the need to invest in Nigeria’s agribusiness sector, since “Nigeria is on the path to complete agricultural rejuvenation with improved agricultural policies, incentives, private sector participation and interventions in place.
Iyalode Lawson submitted to the gathering that “Nigeria’s ranking on the World Bank’s Doing Business report for 2017 has improved by 24 steps, adding that “This signal increased interest in domestic and global enterprises.”
She explained the many opportunities in Nigeria, saying “Nigeria’s population of more than 186 million people, vast land resources and territorial waters, in addition to increasing trade liberalisation activities acts as a bolster to trade promotion. Nigerian farmers and investors in the agriculture sector have the potential to produce food and cash crops for local consumption and export.
According to the statement issued by Sennami Goziem, Director, Marketing & Communications, US-Nigeria Trade Council, the areas of interdependence include : Agricultural mechanization – Large agricultural machinery such as tractors, mowers, planters, etc; Agricultural Research – Information about new global trends in agriculture to increase yield, such as : Improved seedlings, improved crop variety, pest control, etc.
Other include Standardization : Preservation, storage, processing, packaging, transportation requirements with regards to international standards; Technological transfers : new agriculture technologies such as : drone technology, telematics, soil and crop sensors, automated grain offloading; Agricultural financing: capital for production ; Market Access – entering new markets and frontiers; Value chain promotion – Networking producers to processors, exporters amongst others.