Osibanjo, UK High Commissioner, Agric Minister to lead discussion on feed Nigeria Summit

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Muhammad Abubakar and the United Kingdom High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing are among dignitaries expected to lead the conversation at the 2022 edition of the Feed Nigeria Summit (FNS2022).

The Director General of the Feed Summit Secretariat, Mr. Richard-Mark Mbaram stated this on Monday while addressing journalists on the Summit scheduled for 12th December this year.

He said the focus of the summit is how to recalibrate the Nigerian economy using the productivity energies that the agricultural sector and agribusiness ecosystem provides.

Mbaram said that having studied the global economic meltdown, it is clear that agriculture has the answer to the economic crisis it has thrown up.

He pointed out that the world is much more concerned about growing more food without having a negative impact on the environment – a recurrently expressed narrative in the high-level discussions held at the just concluded COP27.

The FNS Secretariat DG noted however, that the Summit will focus on the best way to unleash the energies of the Agricultural sector in Africa, through the deployment of science, technology and innovation. This, he said, has contributed to an increase in productivity, without leaving a sizable imprint on the environment.

Speaking about how this plays out in Nigeria, Mbaram stated that “We now have a new agricultural policy and it focuses on the critical need of our time, we just returned from the COP27 in Egypt and the core concern globally is how to produce more food without leaving marks on the environment, and we are saying that in Nigeria the policy that we have in place now indicates that those who were behind it are visionaries; they knew that technology and innovation is at the core of providing the farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural ecosystem with the tool required to meet this phenomenal challenge of feeding 9billion people.

Speaking further, the DG noted that such technologies like “Biotechnology gives profound advantages to agricultural productivity. Biotechnology is needed to deploy appropriate measures to increase food production while also ensuring that the environment is safe. Improved plant varieties and environmentally safe organic pest and disease controls are all the ways in which science, technology and innovation equip agricultural producers with the tools needed to be optimal.

“So, as the environment is pushing at the farmers, the farmers’ pushback becomes enhanced only if they have the backing of science, technology and innovation, and that is at the core of the message of this year’s Feed Nigeria Summit. It is a critical thematic area”, he explained.

The DG identified a particular attraction of the Summit to be the Deal Room framework which the USAID Feed The Future Agribusiness Development Program is the key technical partner. According to him, the Deal Room is calibrated to provide sectoral financing support – whether it be blended, equity, mezzanine or conventional. Also, assuring that critical appendage de-risking products like insurance are contemplated.

The FNS Deal Room under the directing mind of its Chief Advisor, Dr. Debisi Araba will flaunt a hybrid structure and will also have key partners like the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), and the United Kingdom Department for International Trade featuring prominently.

Mbaram stated that this year’s Summit, coming at the cusp of a new governmental dispensation, will seek to provide policy insights that will guide the political class. “That’s why one of the key focus areas will be youth and gender. Remember, that these folks are naturally innovative in themselves”.

In all, the DG pointed out that the Summit is looking to galvanize sectoral stakeholders’ capacity to engage government regarding the need for policies to be conceptualised, implemented and appraised in line with the feelers coming from the private sector. This is because, according to him, the private sector’s perspective should inform policy, given their disproportionate risk exposure.

“That is why at the FNS we put the private sector front and center and we are not apologetic in so doing”, Mbaram added.

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