To ensure that farmers in Africa’s most populous nation get the needed finance to expand their production and boost productivity, the Feed Nigeria Summit (FNS) in a collaborative approach is set to scale up finance for farmers and agro-processors.
Richard Mbaram, director-general of the Feed Nigeria Summit (FNS) who made this known at a pre-event briefing said the summit is collaborating with the African Development Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to mobilise funds for players in the agric sector to help tackle the worsening state of food insecurity in the country.
According to him, the FNS Dealroom Clinic scheduled to hold on October 12, 2023, in Abuja, will provide agribusiness players an opportunity to access finance to support their growth objectives.
Aptly themed, “Economic Rebirth Through Agribusiness Investment,” Mbaram said the DealRoom Clinic is a unique event, designed exclusively for members of the investor community who take a keen interest in the agribusiness sector.
He added that the DealRoom Clinic aims to foster meaningful engagements between investors and agribusiness partners in such a way as to obtain feedback on how its framework can be better structured to help agriculture deliver value to the Nigerian economy.
“This event serves as a precursor to the upcoming 2023 Feed Nigeria Summit slated for December 5th to 7th with the theme “Climate Change and Food Security: Achieving Economic Recovery Through Resilient Action.”
“The FNS is now a co-convened activity alongside the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) – the first such Public/Private Dialogue Platform for agriculture on the continent of Africa.”
Mbaram noted that the DealRoom framework is the brainchild of the FNS in conjunction with their technical partner, the USAID Agribusiness Investment Activity.
He added that with both physical and virtual platforms, the initiative has motivated and provided leverage for more private sector participation in the agriculture ecosystem via the strategic partnerships that have been built through the Deal Brokerage Room (DBR) framework.
“With technical support from the activity, the FNS Secretariat is looking to take the DealRoom mechanism to scale, thereby ensuring that the Nigeria Agricultural Ecosystem can well respond to the investment needs of the sector,” he explained.
“In the wake of a declaration of a state of emergency in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, this agribusiness clinic becomes key to fighting back the debilitating claws of food insecurity and abysmal investments in key agribusiness activities that will help the economy roar back towards growth and stability,” he said.
