Knowledge gap clog to agribusiness growth in Nigeria -Experts

Experts in the agricultural sector have said that farmers inability to boost productivity and produce wholesome foods is owing to knowledge gap.

Ikechukwu Kelikume, director of agribusiness at the Lagos Business School, speaking on the topic, “Enhancing Export Readiness: Quality, Standards and Compliance at the BusinessDay Agrex conference panelists discussion said Nigeria must have to go back to it’s education curriculum in order to rewrite the country’s agric story.

” Many of us don’t understand the sector even as farmers. Hence, we need to go back to the basis, back to the classroom.

“The challenge of enhancing export Readiness in agric sector is all about knowledge and information gap in doing the business,” he said.

He maintained that those in the main stream value chain and those who are not really interested in being farmers but want to invest in farming need to acquire the knowledge that will take them to the next level of business success.

He reiterated that agriculture business is more a scientific venture that requires understanding of the intricacies involved in order to compete at the global level.

Read also: Agriculture: Lack of crop science grasp is a problem, says Kelikume

Similarly, Annabel Kamuche, a legal practitioner and managing director at First Heritage Global Investment Limited revealed that there is huge knowledge gap as it concerns standardisation in agric-business.

Kamuche urged the government to enact regulations to help standardize farm produce in the country.

“Standardisation of local production like Ghana did is key to helping farmers compete at the global level.

It has to be a conscious effort for anyone going into export,” she noted.

She maintained that the government policy could be in form of waiver for agricultural equipment to enable farmers have access to the needed equipment to excel in the sector.

The Agrex 2023 conference is the initiative of BusinessDay Media Ltd. The event is designed to bring industry stakeholders together to discuss and brainstorm current agricultural export concerns and learn winning strategies in agric-business.