Nigeria is making frantic efforts to ensure that agriculture and allied services play a key role in its quest for economic and revenue diversification.
This stems from the humongous negative impact of the drop in oil prices on the economy.
To support the current diversification drive and mitigate the impact of dropping oil prices, Sterling Bank Plc organised the third edition of its annual Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) in September 2020 themed; ‘Fast Forward Agriculture: Exploiting the Next Revolution’.
The two-day event examined how agriculture in Nigeria and Africa can be accelerated for sustainability while the challenges, progress as well as the potential of agribusiness as a panacea to the existing socio-economic challenges were dissected.
Nigeria’s agribusiness potential has experienced challenges ranging from sub-optimal yields, shrinking resources, post-harvest losses, fluctuating commodity prices, poor adaptation to changing climate systems, among others.
There are also problems at different stages of the value chain: scarcities in quality of inputs and varieties, inadequate funding, slow adoption of mechanisation, and a high reliance on subsistence production techniques which have hindered scaling, limited processing opportunities with direct impacts on output and value generation.
All of these have contributed to an underdeveloped commodity marketing system. The outbreak of COVID-19 added extra layers of challenges to the above-mentioned issues.
Measures put in place to manage the spread of the virus led to restrictions in the movement of people and goods, which in turn made access to critical inputs unavailable and increased costs in the few places where they were found.
These developments impacted smallholder farmers who make up the bulk of players in the industry across the continent.
In his welcome address to kick off the two-day summit, Asue Ighodalo, chairman – board of directors of Sterling Bank, identified five core areas that should be articulated in the quest to transform the agricultural sector in Nigeria and on the African continent.
According to him, to effectively transform Africa’s agribusiness, feed the continent’s growing population, boost economies, create massive employment for millions of its young, and as well as absorb the shocks of the on-going pandemic, there is a need for increased involvement of key stakeholders across public and private sectors in developing the right policies to aid the growth across the various value chain.
Ighodalo advised governments on the continent to prioritise the agricultural sector to attract sizeable investments that would help to drive expansion and achieve global competitiveness as well as increase financing to key parts of the value chain, particularly small-holder farmers in a bid to modernise their practices and increase outputs.
He also stressed the need to focus on the role and impact of technology and data science in stimulating innovation in the value chain.
On his part, Abubakar Suleiman, chief executive officer of the bank observed that the government can only help to kick-start the revolution, while it is the responsibility of the private sector players to come together to make a success of it.
Suleiman said the government had put in place the processes, finances, and commissioned research to start the revolution in the agribusiness sector and it is now about commercialising and making it accessible for the benefit of individuals and businesses.
He observed that Sterling Bank has been hosting the Agriculture Summit Africa for three consecutive years and every year had been better than the previous one.
He noted that one of the outcomes from the first summit is the bank’s commitment to fund the Farmers’ Radio Programme which has become a very successful platform for disseminating information to rural farmers.
He also mentioned that Sterling has extended the reach of the programme to cover the six geopolitical zones of the country so that more farmers could have access to relevant information.
Similarly, Yemi Odubiyi, executive director – corporate and investment banking of the bank said the event was a further testament to Sterling Bank’s commitment to the critical sectors of the Nigerian economy under its well thought out and impact-based HEART strategy which focuses investments on Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Transportation.
Bukola Awosanya, group head, Agric and Solid Minerals Finance, Sterling Bank, said the bank will in addition to its role as a lender, provide advisory services that will help farmers to develop their businesses in a way that significantly improves output.
“One of our goals outside of providing financial support to viable agribusiness projects is to ensure that the farmers and stakeholders maximise value and experience minimal or no post-harvest losses by linking them directly with off-takers at the best prices for their produce,” Awosanya said.
She noted that digital solution already developed by the bank such as SABEX – an end-to-end blockchain commodity trading and financing platform – will enable farmers to have access to outlets where they can sell their produce at the best prices.
She said the bank had done a lot in the agribusiness financing space such as the recent single-digit facility designed for youths and women under age 35; as well as pioneering the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and partnering with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) to provide finance, advocacy, and capacity building to farmers in a bid to ensure food security in the country.
In a keynote address, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said the vision of AfDB post-COVID-19 was to build a better, stronger, and more resilient agricultural sector in the continent.
Adesina, who was represented by Martin Fregene, director of agriculture and agro-industry, AfDB noted that Africa should be able to feed itself, especially since 60 percent of the estimated 200 million hectares of uncultivated land in the world resides on the continent.
He said there was also a need to transform the lands on the continent into a highly productive, profitable, and sustainable breadbasket.
For this to happen, he says Africa will require food technologies, technical know-how, finances, partnership with banks, and enabling policies by governments, as they relate to landed property rights, debt trade policies, cross border trade, and incentives such as low-interest financing for primary producers.
Apart from the keynote speakers and goodwill messages that were given during the event, the various panels that sat made several recommendations that governments, financial institutions, and other stakeholders should consider in a bid to turn the fortune of agriculture within Nigeria and the continent around.
Sieka Gatabaki, deputy chief of Party Mercy Corps Kenya, led the first session of the summit sub-themed ‘Role of Technology and Data in Agriculture’. The conversation which had Lavar Kumar of IITA; Nneka Eze, Partner, Dalberg; and Michael Famoroti, chief economist at Stears Business concurred that the agricultural sector had suffered from unreliable database owing to inconsistencies in data generated by different organisations and agencies.
The need to train stakeholders, including farmers and policymakers, among others, on the strategic value of data collected was emphasised and a recommendation to establish Agricultural Technology Hubs across the country to facilitate innovation and scaling of solutions was put forward.
Also, the panel themed ‘The Role of Financial Intermediation in Agriculture,’ was moderated by Femi Ogunjimi, partner, Cardinal Stone Equity Investment Ltd. Members of the panel included Martins Fregene, director – agriculture and agro-industry, AfDB; Yusuf Philip Yila, director-developmental finance, CBN; Bukola Awosanya, group head- agric and solid minerals finance, Sterling Bank, and Garba Mohammed, group head, Sterling Alternative Finance.
The panel underscored the need for financial intermediation and the adoption of new models for green financing.
They noted that listing big agriculture companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will provide an additional investment opportunity for stakeholders in the sector, adding that the loan accessibility model for farmers should not be the same as other entrepreneurs while corporate civil society should play mediating role between farmers and financial institutions.
Considering the critical role climate conditions play on the quality of agricultural yields, the conversation around the ‘Impact of Climate change on Agriculture’ was moderated by Aliyu Abdulhameed, managing director, NIRSAL, who was represented by Eze Iheukwumere Nwakanma, AGM -agric value chain finance & investment services. Jubril Adeojo, managing director, SMEFUNDS Capital; Halilu Shaba, director-general, National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA); Segun Adaju, chief energizing officer, Consistent Energy Ltd, and Justine Leigh-Bell, CEO, Climate Bond Network participated in the discussion.
The discussants suggested that governments should support stakeholders with enabling policies and drive a huge awareness and adoption of renewable energy amongst the Nigerian people.
The panel also advocated the need to create more synergies between the agricultural sector and the renewable energy sector in a bid to leverage green energy technologies for sustainable agricultural practices.
Tayo Aduloju, senior fellow of public policy, NESG; Ade Adefeko, vice president-corporate & government relations, OLAM; Jude Uzonwanne, managing director, TUG Capital Partners Inc.; Mallam Mu’azu Abdulkadir, permanent secretary, FMARD who was represented by Amin Babandi, a director at the ministry, observed that private sector’s support is required to drive sustainable growth in agriculture.
The discussants, led in session by Aduloju, re-affirmed the need for synergy among stakeholders, including government, private sector, and other institutional investors in a working partnership so that stakeholders can be effectively mobilised for action as and when due.
They added that unpacking the benefits in the agricultural sector requires the need for government to provide the required leadership by enabling the operating environment while the private sector and other stakeholders commercialise it for profitability, employability, and economic stability.
Dissecting the importance of building a sustainable ecosystem for small-holder farmers, Sani Miko, a professor and country director at Sasakawa Africa who was represented by Isaac Eni, business development, partnership, Sasakawa, in a session which featured Chidinma Lawanson, Nigerian country director, Mastercard Foundation; Segun Falade, general manager, Golden Agri-Inputs, Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN); Chichi Aniagolu, country representative, Technoserve and Kola Masha, managing director, Babban Gona, encouraged stakeholders to intensify efforts and increase investments in innovation and human capacity to ensure that the next industrial revolution benefits the agricultural sector.
The panellists also recommended that regular training and knowledge sharing sessions should be considered while farmers must be linked to inputs producers and markets.
It was also noted that demonstration farms should be established across the country to make farmers see results of improved seedlings and other advanced techniques to further improve agricultural practices.
