The curtains have dropped on the day-four of the Nigerian Editors conference in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, with an urgent and a practical note for agribusiness development in Nigeria.
The event, which had in attendance some
sitting and former governors, representatives of state governments and some
successful farmers, brought together senior editors from around Nigeria.
According to available statistics, Nigeria
has 84 million hectares of fertile land.
Thirty-two million is currently cultivated,
with most of it on subsistence level, leaving 52 million hectares untapped.
Though the country boosts of two of the
largest Rivers in Africa – River Benue and River Niger, with agriculture accounting
for two-thirds of the nation’s employment, experts say the country is still
behind in achieving food sufficiency
And how to achieve the potential in
agriculture in Nigeria especially in the face of dwindling crude oil prices is
the focus of the conference of the Guild of Editors in Port Harcourt.
Mr Lucas Adeniji, the Managing Director of
Niji Farms, one of the largest cassava farms in Nigeria, believes agriculture
must become a business to succeed.
The representative of Niger State, Jibrin
Ndace, says some state governments are already making huge investments in
agriculture.
The conference ended with a call on the
Federal and State governments to invest in large scale commercial agriculture,
empower farmers and grow the economy significantly in a way that is measurable
in the coming months.
http://www.channelstv.com/2016/08/08/nigerian-editors-seek-urgent-development-of-agribusiness/
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