The Oyo State Government has declared its interest in partnering with a project that aims to carry out a research on Micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (MSMEs) in agriculture, farmers and agribusiness in Africa.
The Director-General of the Oyo State Agribusiness development agency (OYSADA), Dr Debo Akande, made this known at the project launch of the Research Supporting African MSMEs to Provide Safe and Nutritious Food (RSM2SNF) which was held on Thursday, May 21, 2022, at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan.
Speaking at the event, Akande, who doubles as the executive adviser to the governor on Agribusiness, highlighted some of the steps the state government is taking to develop the agricultural sector in the state and the role that agribusiness played in moving the state from the 13th position to the 6th position in IGR, nationally, within three years.
“The future of Nigerians and Nigeria’s economy depends strongly on harnessing the potentials of the MSME agricultural and agribusiness; a project like this will help achieve this.
“Oyo State hopes to partner with you and learn from you on this project. We will be looking forward to the successful implementation of this project and the key impact it will make on us all,” he remarked.
The lead Principal Investigator for the project, Dr Saweda Onipede Liverpool-Tasie, an associate professor of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at the Michigan State University who gave an overview of the project, explained how the project is designed to focus on food value chains in Nigeria and Tanzania, especially on fish and tomato.
In her words, “What we were looking for were value chains in Nigeria, that is extremely important for Nigerians in terms of the source of food, them being a source of food in the Nigerian diet. And then, we’re also looking at value chains where we have a lot of MSMEs that are operating, particularly women, and then also where we have a lot of challenges, like issues of loss, and vegetables are one that you have a lot of is a perishable product.
“And so when we’re looking at Nigeria consumption pattern, we found that from the national representative data collected by MDs and the World Bank, over 70% of Nigerians consume fish or fish products in a typical week. However, their consumption level is low relative to global standards, and it’s actually quite low in the north, even compared to the south. Also, there is interest and need among stakeholders for the kind of information that the research can provide.
“For tomatoes, it is a similar thing. Over 80% of Nigerian households consume it in a typical week, either fresh or in a processed form. And it’s one that is a lot of loss. There are also a lot of women who are involved in the retailing of tomatoes. We would like to understand how their incomes and their livelihoods can be supported through the research.”
The representative of the Michigan State University, Prof David Tschirley spoke to journalists on the importance of the project in Nigeria.
He said, “Doing this research with stakeholders will make them invest in the research, and the proposals and solutions that will come out of it. It will really increase the chance that they will get the actual change that will improve the environment for these micro and small and medium enterprises and also improve the environment for food-safe, nutritious foods for Nigerian consumers.
“Nigeria is the largest country in Africa with more than 200 million people in the population. It’s a low-income country, where there is a lot of wealth and poverty. So, there are big nutrition and food safety problems.
“More importantly, Nigeria’s food system is changing very rapidly. And in the midst of this change, there need to be new solutions, new investments, new ways of approaching things to be able to assure again, the supply of affordable, safe and nutritious foods.”
The event had in attendance stakeholders who are scholars in agriculture from various parts of the world, government officials, farmers and vegetable traders representatives across Oyo State.
The five years (2021-2026) Bill Melinda Gates Foundation-funded project which will be led by Michigan State University, has partner institutions from Nigeria like the University of Ibadan, Babcock University, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) and the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) as collaborators.
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Oyo to partner Gates Foundation, Michigan State University funded project on African MSMEs in agribusiness
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