Chairman, Board of Directors of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, has urged African governments to optimise the agricultural sector in order to attract sizeable investments that will help drive expansion and achieve global competitiveness as well as increase financing to key points of the value chain, particularly small holder farmers, to modernize their practices and increase outputs.
Ighodalo stated this in his welcome address at the virtual Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) organised by Sterling Bank with the theme: Fast Forward Agriculture: Exploiting the Next Revolution.”
He stressed the need for the continents’ leaders to focus on the role and impact of technology and data science in stimulating innovation in the value chain.
According to him, there is also need to understand the changing regional climate cycles, its impact on productivity and identifying necessary adjustments to deliver growth despite climate changes.
Also speaking, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, noted that government can only help to kick start the revolution while the private sector ensure its success.
He said the government has put in place the processes, finances and researches to start the revolution in the agricultural sector and it is was time it is commercialized so that individuals and businesses can benefit from it.
In a keynote address, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said AfDB post COVID-19 is to build a better, stronger and more resilient agricultural sector in the African continent.
Represented by Director of Agriculture and Agro-Industry of AFDB, Dr. Martin Fregene, Adesina noted that the continent should not be talking about food scarcity especially with 60 percent of the estimated 200 million hectares of uncultivated land in the world in the continent.
