Govt lauds OPS agriculture inputs

By Jimoh Babatunde

The Federal Government has expressed satisfaction with the boost that agriculture is getting from the organised private sector in the country. 
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) ,Arc. Sonny Echono, disclosed that Nigeria’s agriculture has been receiving major boost since the private sector took the centre stage of activities in the sector.
Speaking at the launch of Micro reforms for African Agribusiness in Nigeria in Abuja during the week, the Permanent Secretary  explained that the goal of government is to attract private sector agribusinesses through investment facilitation from early stage through the investment lifecycle.
He said this will be done using reforms, regulations, laws and administrative practices adding that, “The private sector has become the engine of Nigeria’s economic growth”.
The Permanent Secretary, represented by the Director, Agribusiness and Marketing, FMARD, Engr. Ohiare Jatto commended the efforts of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group for joining hands with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in accelerating investments in the agricultural sector through advocacy for options in policies and incentives. 
He however identified inconsistency in policies and regulations as one of the major constraints facing private sector agribusiness investors in Nigeria.
Echono listed issues of affordable financing and innovative insurance products, infrastructure and lack of security of supply of raw materials for food processing as part of the constraints . 
While resolving  to partner with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) to implement some micro reforms in the agricultural sector in Nigeria, he expressed his satisfaction with the approach adopted by AGRA in helping to identify ambiguous, economically flawed and poorly implemented micro reforms across selected African countries.
 He said, “Nigeria’s choice by AGRA as a case study would provide a benchmark for other African countries in growing the agricultural sector across Africa”.
Earlier in his remarks, the President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Dr. Agnes kalibata, represented by the Head of policy and Advocacy, Mr. Boaz Blackie Keizire, stated that AGRA was formed with a vision of developing agricultural technologies in close communication with farmers.
Dr. Kalibata said AGRA has supported the growth of Agro entrepreneurs in seeds and fertilizers across the continent, saying over 25,000 Agro dealerships have been created by the organization around the continent of Africa.
She explained that the role of AGRA was to build the capacity of agricultural systems from technologies to agro enterprises and maintained that Nigeria would play a critical role in making green revolution happen in Africa.
In the opinion of the Executive Leadership Co-ordinator of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere,   there was a disconnect between the agriculture players and government policy formulators and therefore called for unity among the agricultural dealers and better partnership among farmers, saying, “The future should be greater than the past”.

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