Nigeria’s first national cashew interactive conference is aimed at unlocking a N50 billion annual investment opportunities, Managing Director, HomeNa Agribusiness Consulting Ltd, Godwin Ochaga, has said.
Ochaga said in Abuja that the three-day conference would also examine the role of both public and private stakeholders in addressing emerging issues in the sector.
There is a need to harness the huge investment opportunities and value chain in cashew production, in view of efforts by the Federal Government to diversify the economy from oil.
“The conference will bring investors and cashew farmers to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will attract a N50 billion annual investment in cashew production, consumption and sale.
“Participants at the conference will deliberate on strategic roadmap for commercialising cashew production in Nigeria and its impact on national development and entrepreneurship,” he said.
The managing director also said that the conference, earlier slated for Sept. 25 to Sept. 27, has been shifted to a later date in view of requests by stakeholders to widen its scope so as to capture more inputs.
Ochaga added that the conference would address the role of government financing agencies and development partners in the ongoing national discuss on reforming and strengthening the agricultural credit system.
He further said that the contributions of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria(SON) and certification agencies in response to branding and labeling of cashew products for export would be discussed.
Ochaga said that HomNa had held a number of timely interactive debates and consultations on the issues, to provide inputs into the conference.
“The interactive debates have served to develop a shared view of the scale, scope and impact of the problems, to assess resource requirements and mobilisation, and to review institutional roles and relationships among financing agencies and development partners in Nigeria”, he said.
