TheCable

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has tasked the Oyo state government to develop potentials in agriculture and other business-related sectors. 

Akinwumi Adesina, president of AfDB, said this at the Oyo Agribusiness Summit, which was held on Tuesday at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.

He was represented by Martin Fregene, director, department of agriculture and agro-industry, AfDB.

Adesina charged the state government to incorporate a competitive agribusiness, cluster stakeholder, functional local capacity and climatic adaptation in its strategies.

Speaking at the summit, Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, said the vision of the state is to emerge as a leader agribusiness as well as becoming a global producer of high quality and safe agricultural products.

He called on investors to take advantage of the state’s numerous competitive potentials, like manpower, arable land, among others.

“For agriculture to lift people out of poverty and into prosperity, we need to view agriculture as a tool for rural development and see it as a business,” he said. 

“That roadmap on the economy that we drafted informed our decision to make agriculture one of the drivers of our economy. In clear terms, our idea is to transform the state from a sleepy community to a thriving agribusiness hub. This is why we offer an unbeatable incentive to investors in agriculture in the state.

“We created Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA). This serves as a driver of agribusiness development where private investors can make contact directly with the government. 

One of the products is this summit. The summit is an opportunity to the showcase investment potential of the state in agriculture.”

Debo Akande, OYSADA managing director, said that the state offers comparative advantages over other states. 

“The presence of all the stakeholders here shows you share a deep interest and commitment to grow Oyo state and that you have the confidence to take up more investments and explore opportunities for partnerships in our agribusiness sector,” Akande said.

“Africa’s population is projected to cross 2.5 billion people in a few decades with Nigeria accounting for just under a fifth of that number. These people will need food and all manner of agriculture-derived products and services. Nigeria’s livestock farming and processing market is projected to reach $120 billion in a few years, but will it be with the current livestock practice?

“We have over 2.2 million hectares of land (in the state) of which 85 per cent is arable and suitable for large-scale farming to meet the needs of a growing population and burgeoning middle class.”