Agriculture: More Foreign Companies Indicate Interest in Nigeria

Foreign companies dealing in processed and agricultural processing products, on Monday expressed their readiness to invest and take advantage of Nigeria’s large market for their products.

Companies from Turkey, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and China, told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Lagos on the sidelines of this year’s Food Nigeria Exhibition and Conference, of their growing interest in
Nigeria.

Subramaniam Eassuwaran, Vice Chairman of ESWARAN Brothers Export, from Sri Lanka, said that his company, that was visiting Nigeria for the first time, was in the country to explore business opportunities.

Eassuwaran said that his organisation was prepared to engage Nigerian partners in the distribution of good quality teas to the Nigerian population.

“We have been hearing of the huge business opportunities in Nigeria. My organisation, which is one of the largest tea bag companies in Asia, has therefore, decided to come to exploit the Nigerian market for its teas,” he said.

Eassuwaran, who expressed the satisfaction of some Nigerians with their exhibited teas, said that he was convinced that Nigeria would provide the right market for his company’s tea bags.

Samer El-Kari, Commercial Manager of Al-Faris Food Industries, from Saudi Arabia, said that his company was eager to bring its products to the Nigerian market.

“Especially now that we are expanding our export market, we are beginning to see Nigeria as one of the largest markets for our products. We are now really interested in doing business in Nigeria, because
Nigeria really has the population for our agricultural products,” he said.

Richie Deng, Commercial Manager of Chongqing Lihong Fine Chemicals, from China, expressed confidence in the Nigerian markets for his company’s products.

“We have been doing well in other parts of the world. And now, we havedecided to also come to look for business opportunities in Nigeria,” he said.

Evren Sengul, Manager of Semolina Azteca Milling, from Turkey, said that although his company had been doing business with some Nigerian partners, it was not set to expand its investment plan to Nigeria.

Sengul, however, pleaded with the Nigerian government to review its current currency regulation laws, as it was seriously affecting his Nigerian customers’ importation of his company’s products.

“Our Nigerian customers are really complaining of having difficulties in transferring money from Nigeria to Turkey. These customers are also complaining of their difficulties in getting
dollars to import products,” he added.

Can Agriculture and Food become the next growth engine and job creator/promoter?

As we look at the potential of agriculture to become a job and livelihood creator for the bottom 40%, including rural youth and women, many opportunities emerge.

Firstly, food production is no longer restricted to cereals.  With the demand for fruits, vegetables and dairy products increasing in urban settings and rural areas, there is significant potential to expand employment opportunities.  Global vegetable production is about to reach 1.1 billion metric tons.  Global milk production has already exceeded 750 million tons, and approximately 150 million households around the globe are engaged in milk production. In most developing countries, milk is produced by smallholders, and milk production contributes to household livelihoods, food security and nutrition. Milk provides relatively quick returns for small-scale producers and is an important source of cash income. In addition, aquaculture and fish production has reached 158 million tons.

There is significant difference in employment and enterprise opportunities created in vegetables, fruit, milk and aquaculture as compared to cereals.  In Kenya, 6 jobs are created per hectare of vegetable crops that are exported, including 3 positions in the field, 2 in packed houses and one with the exporter.  In Nigeria, for every 10 metric tons of catfish 8 jobs are created; one on the fish farm and the rest in supply chain including “Market Queens”, “Market Mamas”, and ladies running the Buka restaurants.  The implication of all this is that a large proportion of future jobs will be created not only on farms but also in positions connected to food servicing and delivery.

Pathways to Inclusive employment in agriculture

There are four pathways emerging for the bottom 40% to access more, better, and inclusive jobs in agriculture and related sectors in rural areas. 

1.     Firstly, small farmers need mechanisms through which they can aggregate their produce to deal with the market.  They need to be organized as producer organizations and companies and engage with the market differently. 

2.     Secondly the value chains should be developed in such a manner that they become more inclusive and developed with jobs and enterprises perspective. 

3.     Thirdly, there needs to be more investment in expanding the ecosystem of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  Existing SMEs should be encouraged to grow faster and new SMEs to emerge. 

4.     Fourthly, youth need to be provided opportunities for skill development and enhancement so they are able to access entrepreneurship opportunities and acquire jobs in agribusiness, non-farm, and rural labor markets.

A new Global Solution Group for the Agriculture Global Practice

The Agriculture Global Practice at the World Bank works with Governments and clients to support them design and manage policies and investments that promote new opportunities in agriculture, food and related sectors in rural areas.  A new Global Solution Group has been recently set up in the last six months to match problems and challenges with solutions in this area.  It has a multi-sectoral composition, with professionals from various practices across the Bank participating. Bank staff who are designing or managing programs within the Agricultural sector share challenges or problems, and the Global Solution Group identifies solutions that have previously been tried in the Bank and outside.  The GSG and Bank staff then work together to consider the possible solutions and how they might impact the design or evaluation of programs.  These lessons are also shared with clients and presented to senior decision makers to help them take decisions and carry out informed dialogues.

Informed presentations and discussions with the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development of Kosovo about how to create a more favorable ecosystem for Agribusiness investment and Rural Enterprise ecosystem in the country were conducted.  Tunisia and Morocco Teams are looking for approaches which integrate poverty reduction, value chain development, and market based approaches to climate smart agriculture and will launch an interesting set of studies and dialogues with clients in the country.  A team in Tanzania is looking at designing a new Horticulture Development Project informed by analytics, including a tool which will enable the team to apply a Jobs lens to value chains.

All these experiences are being documented and curated by the GSG and will be offered on the GSG website platform to enable all staff of the World Bank to access this knowledge, including papers, presentations, videos and other material.  The GSG team is also trying to make this interactive so that individuals could post both challenges and solutions and create a vibrant community of practitioners.

Please throw a challenge to the GSG on the issues mentioned above!

We will crowd source the World Bank Group and also ensure that we bring collective global learning to inform you and support you in designing, managing and evaluating investments, analytics, policy advice and strategic communication.

We would like to invite agencies and individuals outside the World Bank to suggest solutions they have found which have worked or not worked— both can encourage learning. We would like you to become solution contributors. We hope that we will have an active community of solution finders and a frank exchange on what works and does not work.
 

http://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/what-your-challenge-creating-jobs-and-livelihoods-bottom-40

BoI restates commitment to youth empowerment

Capacity building is a potent tool for business development, Bank of Industry (BoI) Acting Managing Director Mr Waheed Olagunju has said.
Declaring open the Ife Youths Economic Summit at Ile Ife, Osun State, Olagunju restated the bank’s readiness to help youths become successful business owners.
The summit was co-sponsored by the Ooni of Ile-Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi and Senator Babajide Omoworare.

Speaking on the theme: “IFEPRENEURSHIP : Building Entrepreneurship Competency and Self-Reliance Among Ife Youths,” he advised youths to be empowered in capacity before venturing into business.

Olagunju urged participants at the summit not to see whatever financial benefit in terms of loans, grants or financial assistance by individual or corporate organisations extended to them as national cake meant to be enjoyed and squandered, but that such grants should be utilised to build a solid, endurable and sustainable investment.

http://thenationonlineng.net/boi-restates-commitment-youth-empowerment/

Agriculture in Africa by Mastercard Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation, others to provide $1m grants for cassava production

The Rockefeller Foundation, Dalberg and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have launched an Innovation Challenge to uncover innovative solutions to increase cassava shelf life in Nigeria.
The Challenge was announced at the just concluded World Economic Forum – Africa annual meetings in Kigali, Rwanda, and will provide up to $1 million in funding, as well as technical assistance to implement business model development and product design.

Cassava is critical for food security in Africa. It is the main source of nutrition for around half of the continent’s population, or 500 million people. Yet this root crop has a very short shelf life and if unprocessed it will spoil within 24-72 hours after harvesting – less if it is damaged during harvesting or transport.

Nigeria is the world’s largest cassava producer, accounting for more than 20 per cent of global production – more than 50 million tons annually, grown by nearly 30 million smallholder farmers.

Approximately 40 per cent of this cassava is lost due to spoilage, a tremendous problem that limits farmer incomes and rural economic development, and one that stretches far beyond Nigeria’s borders as food spoilage and wastage affects our global economy and impacts greenhouse gas emissions.
The President of the African Development Bank, Dr. AkinwumiAdesina said: “The agricultural transformation agenda is beginning to open up new income streams for farmers. A good example is the case of cassava.”
In his previous tenure as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria, Adesina championed cassava commercialisation in the country and grew the 
capacity to process cassava into flour, starch, and several other products.

The Rockefeller Foundation Cassava Innovation Challenge will consider applications that are incremental as well as those that are transformative to the Nigerian cassava value chain. The shelf life issues arise from some of the following barriers: Limited access to existing cassava varieties: Though varieties that extend shelf life do exist, access to or awareness of them may need to increase; preservation of cassava between harvest and processing: Poor and inefficient handling, storage and transport either damages roots or leaves them exposed to the elements; and far-away processing: Processors are far from cassava farms and use inefficient manual peeling, allowing more time for the root to spoil before it can be processed into forms that have longer shelf life.

Any innovation that could enhance shelf life or reduce postharvest losses will be considered and those organizations that have ideas for transforming this critical link in food security – but may not have food security expertise – are encouraged to apply.
Given the global nature of cassava, which outside of Africa is grown in countries as diverse as Thailand, Indonesia, and Brazil, the Challenge is global and is open to organisations with innovative products/technologies, processes or services—in various stages of development—from anywhere inthe world.
IITA Director General Dr. NteranyaSanginga also said: “We have been working on cassava improvement and value chain development for many years from our base in Ibadan, Nigeria and our substations all over sub-Saharan Africa. We are very excited about the potential of this Challenge to bring to light innovations but also to get these innovations into the hands of smallholder farmers in Nigeria in a sustainable way.”
“The Rockefeller Foundation has a long history of supporting agricultural innovation and enhancing food security and farmer income,” the Managing Director of The Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office, MamadouBiteye said.

“Our Yield Wise Initiative, launched earlier this year, is committed to halving postharvest loss on the continent, and enhancing the shelf life of cassava will be key to achieving this goal, while having a significant positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of farmers and their families.”

Also, the Agriculture Practice Co-Lead and Associate Partner at Dalberg, NnekaEze said: “If we solve the shelf life issues in cassava in Nigeria, we can solve them everywhere else. Our role in designing and managing the Challenge has allowed us to work directly with a diversity of innovators, agronomists, and business people keen to solve shelf life issues. We hope that the Cassava Innovation Challenge and the significance of the award will help to harness this energy from across agricultural value chains and even bring non-agricultural innovators into the cassava value chain.”