For investors to easily harness opportunities in the agricultural sector and agribusinesses boost their productivity there must be technological adoption and innovative solutions, experts say.
The experts who spoke at the Ecobank agribusiness conference held recently in Lagos said that the country has continued to record low yield per hectare owing to its inability to switch from the culture of agric to the science of agribusiness.
They stated that despite the opportunities across various agric value chains that abound, Nigeria is still unable to feed itself and create jobs through the sector owing to the lack of technological solutions to inherent challenges in agriculture.
“We are still doing the culture of agric and not the science and this is why our average yield per hectare is still very low,” said Aliyu Abdulhameed, managing director/CEO, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural lending (NIRSAL) said.
“Agribusiness must be driven by technology to be profitable. There must be innovative solutions that solve wastage problems before logistics and other problems to make farming viable,” Abdulhameed said.
He urged investors to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector, saying that the country already has the factors to do agribusiness which he identified as arable land, water, and labour.
He stated that modern-day financing has moved from agriculture to productivity, saying that agribusiness without productivity cannot attract finance.
“All finance and investment activities must have a market-driven approach and such activities must involve the smallholder farmers” he added.
Andrew Nevin, chief economist, PwC who was the keynote speaker, called on Nigeria to focus on measuring its achievement on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rather than fixated on GDP.
Nevin stressed the need for Nigeria to address productivity in its agribusiness sector as the country’s food import bill as of 2018 stood atN1.4trillion, whereas food exports were N302million representing a deficit of N1.1trillion within the period.
Nevin also called for the reform of Nigeria’s land use act in the country, which according to him, will serve as an enabler for boosting agricultural activities.
While acknowledging agritech firms like Farmcrowdy and the likes for leveraging technology to provide support for smallholder farmers, he noted that investments in agritech are vital to achieving innovation and transformation in the sector.
Ade Ayeyemi, group chief executive officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, in his remarks said agriculture is at the center of Nigeria’s real sector and its growth will no doubt contribute to a sustainable vibrant economy.
“Success in Nigeria’s agricultural sector means feeding almost 200 million individuals and, amongst others, the reduction in the demand for foreign exchange to import food items into the country,” Ayeyemi said.
“This is coupled with the development of the agribusiness value-chain and its resultant creation of a new breed of entrepreneurs as well as jobs,” he added.
Mohammed Nanono, minister of agriculture and rural development, said Nigeria’s potential and prospects make the sector a pilot for economic stabilisation, diversification, and growth in the country. The sector is a major contributor to the national GDP and the biggest in job creation in the non-oil sector.
Nanono, who was represented by Mustapha Baba Shehuri, minister of state for agriculture and rural development, said President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to finding a lasting solution to addressing the issues of food security in the country, as well as encouraging local farmers to produce more and better quality food for all.
