Director General of the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) Dr Vincent Isegbe says Nigeria’s agricultural exports should be demand driven, as this would enable the nation occupy its rightful place across the globe.
Isegbe stated this at the 2021 AGRICON conference and Expo under the theme: “#EndHunger today: Building national resilience for sustainable food security”, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The NAQS’ chief executive noted that although Nigeria produced about 10 commodities that placed it in second or third position globally, in terms of exports “we are not thinking of 12, 15 or 20th position.
“As a country we have to focus on proper agricultural exports. We have some commodities that the nation is used to that have value on the international market, we grew up to meet those commodities. If we can take advantage of them today we will occupy our rightful place globally.
“Whatever product you produce you need to add value and adding value means more money for the farmer,” he said.
Isegbe noted that Nigeria started with subsistence agriculture but had since migrated presently to agribusiness.
“Currently, we are talking about precision agriculture that is to say we are doing things with the desire to gain result so that the farmer can be comfortable just like the people in other sectors of economy.
“Precision agriculture is relevant because we need to adapt to technological discussion, that is introduce technology so that we can move from this level to the level that we should be,” he added.
Mrs Stella Oraka, AGRICON’s Managing Director, said the event was designed to bring together agribusiness innovators from around the world, to trade commodities of interest as well as exchange views on how best to end hunger.
Oraka noted that the organisation organised the conference and expo annually, to enable exchange of ideas among agro-stakeholders to improve food production and also provide access to international market.
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AGRICON Chairman, Hon. Emeka Ebo, said the conference was initiated to enable farmers have access to capital and export their products.
According to him, the event was anchored on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN, specifically goal two which is zero hunger by 2030.
Ebo noted that the organisation was currently in partnership with the States of Texas, USA, Bank of Agriculture, among others, to actualise AGRICON’s goal of ensuring farmers have access to capital and as their products met global export demand.
NAN reports that AGRICON is an agricultural business and advisory establishment involved in harnessing human and material resources for the optimal production, sales and marketing of farm commodities, inputs and techniques tailored to meet the demands of evolving local and international markets.
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