The Parliament Diary

By Johnson Umishi

Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an organization founded by a former secretary general of the United Nation, Mr. Kofi Anan is partnering with the Nasarawa State Government with a view to boosting agriculture and food sustainability.

Country Director of AGRA in Nigeria, Dr. Rufus Idris made this known when he led other members of the organization on a courtesy visit on Governor Abdullahi Sule in Abuja on Friday.

The Country Director said AGRA supports African leadership and African governments with inclusive agricultural transformation and food system transformation in Africa.

Idris said having monitored agricultural activities across the country, Nasarawa State was selected to join Kaduna and Niger states because of the strong leadership being provided by Governor Sule.

“We looked at states in Nigeria where we see strong leadership and we see a lot of momentum where we can leverage to transform agricultural system in the country and food system. Nasarawa State has come on top of our radar and we have been engaging NASIDA and also the Permanent Secretary. Ministry of Agriculture and decided that we have to come into Nasarawa fully like how we have done in other states,” he said.

He said that as part of AGRA’s intervention in Nasarawa State, the organization will look at policy issues toward assisting the government to transform agriculture and food system in the state.

“We look at issues around climate change and climate impact and how to support farmers to respond to that. We look at the seeds system. How do we get more quality seeds and coordinate that space in Nigeria. We also look around issues of inclusivity and inclusion. How do we get young people and women more involved in the agricultural space. And also access to finance, access to markets are other things that we also look into,” he stated.

Idris added that AGRA will engage directly with the Ministry of Agriculture and NASIDA, with a view to supporting a project, Nasarawa State Capability for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation.

“It is mainly about how do we support the state’s agricultural policy, how do we support the state to build an investment plan for agriculture in the state and how to push that through the implementation. And also how do we support building capacity and capabilities within the state to run their own work and be able to attract a lot of giants in investments to transform the state as well,” he said.

He said AGRA will equally indertake another project jointly funded with Nestlé with a $400, 000 grant in order to support small holder farmers to produce to meet the quality requirements of Nestle.

He explained that, through this partnership, Nestlé is committed to buying farm produce from farmers benefiting from the intervention.

Idris further announced that AGRA has a new investment for women and youths across the state.

“We have been to the state and we have seen a lot of women processors processing rice and the likes which we would also like to support to help them upgrade and scale up their production, with a $370, 000 grant to support that effort,” he stated.

Idris said AGRA is currently partnering with Nasarawa State to see how the organization can support the Governor’s efforts already to see how to transform the agricultural space, to make it more inclusive and to ultimately transform the food system in Nasarawa State.

“We are also seeing how we can bring other partners that can support the various areas and the value chain for the overall transformation that we would like to see in that state,” he said.

Responding, Governor Abdullahi Sule expressed satisfaction that an organization such as AGRA has understood the inroads being made by his administration in the agricultural sector and is coming to partner with the state government.

“I’m so happy that you understood what we are doing on ground. You identified some of these women who are processing in the various zones that we kept supporting them. We also supported them under the AUDA-NEPAD programme. The World Bank supported them. So also the Federal Government under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture,” he said.

The Governor said his administration will continue to promote local farmers financially and otherwise, adding that rice seedlings from the state-own farm in Jangwa was distributed to local government chairmen in order for the councils to key into the initiative.

“I want to commend you and thank you for identifying Nasarawa State after Kaduna and Niger for a state that you will visit when it comes to agriculture. We are very serious about agriculture, both at the state level and the general population,” he stated.

Earlier in an opening remarks, Managing Director/CEO of Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency (NASIDA), Ibrahim Abdullahi, said AGRA is in the state to partner with the state to offer technical assistance to develop the state’s agricultural policy.

“They have also announced some various interventions in partnership with Nestlé to some investment along value chain development in Nasarawa State. The idea in that kind of initiative is that farmers are able to produce improved quality of products that Nestlé wants to uptake within the state. Most importantly, they want to announce the grant offered to Nasarawa State to help develop these policies,” he said.

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