Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector Gets Boost from Local Investors – Minister

Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that local investors are investing more into Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector, under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda. He made this known while speaking at the Agribusiness Forum 2013 in Brussels, which was organised by the European Marketing Research Centre (EMRC). He said, “Our billionaires used to make money from other sectors, including oil, now, they are moving back to the farm. The future of Africa is bright. We need to secure that future and agriculture as a business is what is needed to secure that future. We have treated sorghum as a subsistence crop before now. We are now turning sorghum into a cash crop.” he said. The event is themed, “The Agri-Food Sector: A Catalyst for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Africa.” The minister also said, “Nigeria will be the largest processor of food sorghum. Dansa is investing 36 million euros into the production of high energy foods, using sorghum as one of the inputs. Food Concept (in Nigeria) is partnering with a Rwandan counterpart in a $27 million investment in poultry.”

“Investing in infrastructure is very expensive, but, in Nigeria, to overcome that constraint. We have developed staple crops processing zones, which are to set up food manufacturing plants, a cluster of infrastructure to close the missing link between agriculture and industry.”

“We are working on derivatives of cassava. We can produce lowland rice, irrigated rice and floating rice in Nigeria,” he said.