International Consultant / Special Adviser on Investment, Diaspora and Development Partners to the AU ECOSOCC Nigeria, Mrs Chinwe Maduike, in this interview with JOHN OBA, said government needs to engage consultants to find better and creative options of financing the sector
What aspect of agriculture are you focusing on? We are concern about every sub-sector in agriculture but we are mostly focused on investment in the sector across Africa and engaging youth from universities in in agriculture.
Those are the two main areas we are in agriculture.
So how far have you gone on farmers empowerment, especially in Nigeria? AU ECOSOCC Nigeria is mostly focus on agriculture with special attention on empowering youth.
We are looking at engaging them in all value chains of agriculture.
We have a programme called school to land.
We are looking at engaging the graduates.
We are also engaging several institutions and agencies such as NDDC in agriculture and our focus point is youth and agriculture.
And also within AU ECOSOCC Nigeria, we also have some programmes that also focus on youth in agriculture.
We are trying to make agriculture attractive to the youth.
We are also trying to reach out to third party financial institutions, to consider the youth so that the necessary funds are there for the youth to work.
Most youth are willing to work in the sector, but funds are not always there for them.
So must of our projects try to bridge this gaps.
Investment in agriculture has been one of the major challenges, investors seem not interested as they ought to, what is your take on this? The ministry of agriculture is doing alot to get investors into the sector, alot can still be done.
We need to actively engage international investors.
Nigeria must make sure that they are investors ready too especially in the sector.
Investors going on the website, with necessary information that will give them an informed decision on what they are about to embark on.
The ministry of agriculture must actively participate in strategic international events that have to do with agriculture.
They can showcase themselves there.
It is not just going and participate as usual but coming out to showcase the very best that Nigeria has.
Showcase the area of deficiencies that Nigeria has too that investors can add values to.
And then investors are not just coming in to take a lease of farmland but to add values to the goods that we have produced.
Even if investors are coming in, we must be strategic in how we look or accept investors, and in what we are looking for that would add value to the products that we have.
It is not good growing cashew here, bag them and take them to India, and allowing India to add value to it and resell it to us in Nigeria.
With that we are doing a deservice to ourselves, the youth, and the Country’s economy at large.
These are areas we must be strategic in our approach toward investors.
How do you think Nigeria can solve the problem of Engage consultant for better agric financing – Chinwe Maduike International Consultant / Special Adviser on Investment, Diaspora and Development Partners to the AU ECOSOCC Nigeria, Mrs Chinwe Maduike, in this interview with JOHN OBA, said government needs to engage consultants to find better and creative options of financing the sector.
small scale farmers inability to access agricultural mechanisation equipment yet they produce over 90% of Nigeria’s food? Yes, mechanised agriculture is indeed capital intensive, it is very expensive and the equipment don’t come cheap but there are ways around it.
For the AU ECOSOCC Nigeria, we have looked at the cost benefit of acquiring some of these equipment.
And nothing stops the government from the onset to look to get cheaper equipment for the farmers.
Some times, over there in London, they update their agro equipment, and sell them as unction prices, we can get some of these and distribute them either on local government basis or on geo-political basis, so that it spread to every corner of the country.
Target cooperatives so they could easily access the equipment, that way people actually get to benefit.
We are also getting other agencies to partner with us in terms of exporting the finished products.
The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) could also look at how to educate people more because people in the rural suburbs don’t know what is expected of them.
I know they have done lots in terms of educating the producers but alot more can also be done in terms of creating awareness to the people in the rural suburbs.
Lets look away from planting now, but what about production.
Adding values to the products like you said about cashew, is AU ECOSOCC Nigeria working towards empowering small scale farmers to process what they produce? In AU ECOSOCC Nigeria, it is in our interest to encourage small scale farmers to produce.
Another thing is, we do not work in isolation, we work in unison with other partner agencies.
The only way we reach out directly to these farmers is through their state government, we work hand in hand with them.
And we have also got international partners that are supporting us, willing to assist the farmers.
We love to assist our small scale farmers for free and we need the state government to help sensitise their farmers.
In term of also helping the farmers in different areas, one of our projects entails that we have a central warehouse, whereby farmers come in and take inputs they need for their farms.
We will also help them to add value to their produces for local and International consumption.
So, like how many farmers are you thinking of empowering? We will empower as much as we can.
Nigeria is densely populated and we are of the school of thought that believes that we should produce the food we eat.
So we must encourage our farmers to create more job opportunities, because for us the more farmers we get to support and train the better for us.
How much do you think the Council will spend on this projects in Nigeria? We can only empower them by being their mouth piece to the necessary financial institutions that will support them.
We can help them as well by connecting them with international organisations that may support with better inputs.
We can also empower them by availing them with information on grant that they are entitled to and help them process these grants, these are the ways.
But do we have the physical cash? We wish we have the physical cash.
However the way we help them is to make sure that knowledge about international funding relating to agric sector is made available to them.
Your counsel to the federal, state governments on agriculture? AU ECOSOCC Nigeria applauds the federal government for it giant stride in agriculture, for taking it on as one of the key sector.
However, the ministry of agriculture need to work with the Council.
It would also be good to know what strategic partnership they have gone into.
Being an international organisation ourselves, we have alot of funding opportunities that might be of great importance to them and the farmers that they can reach out to.
According to the Malabo Declaration and Commitments of 2014, countries should support agriculture with 10% of their annual budget, but in Nigeria, the highest is 1.8%, what other option can the government exploit to solve this problem.
More creative finance option need to be lay out if the normal way is not bringing in as much funding as expected.
The government need to engage consultant into finding better creative option of financing the sector.
The AU ECOSOCC Nigeria message to the government is to look for more creative ways of funding this sector.
If it is at one percent right now, I am sure a trickle of two percent wi be hugely felt within the sector.
