Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has stressed the need for innovation and collaboration in addressing the challenges facing Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
He made this known while speaking at the AgriConnect Summit held in Lagos, noting that innovation in agriculture is key to human survival and development.
The event, themed “Bridging the Divide: Cultivating Collaboration and Innovation for a Sustainable Agricultural Future,” brought together stakeholders from various sectors including the Minister of Communication, Innovation & Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani and some experts in agriculture.
Obasanjo, who chaired the event, emphasized the need for innovation, land, as well as finance to drive agricultural growth.
“Innovation is very important. Land is important. But, without money, your land is useless. You cannot do agric business without money and innovation,” he said.
He commended research institutes in Africa and worldwide and stressed the need to provide mentorship for young farmers.
The AgriConnect Summit, organized in collaboration with Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited, aims to foster a unified approach to agricultural development.
According to Toyosi Obasanjo, one of the organizers, “At the AgriConnect Summit 2024, we are resolutely dedicated to dismantling barriers and fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders.
“By convening leaders from technology, finance, government, developmental organizations, and agriculture, we aspire to co-create actionable strategies to surmount the obstacles faced by farmers and fortify food security in Nigeria.”
Temire Egbe Bob, another member of the organizing team, said that the event was an opportunity to inspire the youth.
One of the panellists, Meka Nwabuko, managing director of Prime Agro Seeds Limited, emphasized cluster farming and cooperatives as a solution to the challenges faced by smallholder farmers.
“Small holder farmers are at the heart of food cultivation and production and remain the dominant producers across the country,” he remarked.
“Some challenges faced by small holders to produce profitably are access to inputs, access to financing, access to markets, access to technology and knowledge, security, infrastructures, among others.
“Small holder enabler programs have shown that these challenges are more structurally and sustainably solved when farmers are grouped together in clusters and/or cooperatives.
“In a cluster farming model support, inputs, finance, technology, knowledge, market etc. can be better deployed, managed, evaluated, and enhanced than when deployed to individual farmers, he added.”
He called for the development of government policies that incentivize farmers to adopt new technologies for sustainable agriculture.
“Government policy provides the foundation for development of the food production sector. Key policies such as the Plant Variety Protection Act have supported and accelerated the progress of Prime Agro Seeds’ business as it provided the legal framework to protect the intellectual property of foreign investors.
“It is important that government policies continue to take a value chain view and approach to promote and sustain the adoption of technology,” he said.