The 2020 edition of the Feed Nigeria Summit, Nigeria’s flagship agricultural sector convocation is set to take-off on December 1 and 2, 2020.
In response to current realities, this year’s Summit, to be held at the Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, is themed: “Agribusiness: Leading Nigeria’s Recovery”.
Chair, Organising Committee of Feed Nigeria Summit 2020, Prof. Eustace Iyayi, at a virtual briefing yesterday, explained that this year’s gathering would focus on how Nigeria can make full economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by taking full advantage of agro-industrialisation.
Iyayi, a Professor of Animal Nutrition and Feed Biotechnology, noted that the Summit is aimed at encouraging conversation around key evidence-based solution for recalibrating the Nigerian economy by leveraging the agricultural sector’s transformative capacity.
“FNS2020 will draw attention to the huge gap that still exists between production and demand. This gap can be significantly reduced by funding support to the private sector to boost production against next year.
“Farmers and other operators need to be given incentives because many already have their businesses wiped out or significantly downsized due to COVID-19.”
Iyayi further noted that FNS2020 will serve as the platform to unveil the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Plan (NATIP), the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (FMARD) new policy direction being spearheaded by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono.
The private-sector policy inclusion campaign, the Agriculture Policy Alliance Project (APAP) – as a critical response to the need to forge a partnership in policy conceptualisation and framing – will also form part of the focal engagement at the summit.
In addition, FNS2020 will feature the formal unveiling of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Programme in Nigeria.
Already being implemented in several other African countries, the SAPZ is an integrated development initiative designed to concentrate agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential to boost productivity, integrate production, processing and marketing of selected commodities. The SAPZ Programme is the Federal Government of Nigeria’s collaborative project with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The FMARD is the key implementor, backed by other critical partners.
The AfDB is supporting the programme with $500m, while the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has pledged a $200m support fund.
With SAPZ set for take-off in the first half of 2021, FNS2020 will play a key role in laying the foundation for the project’s effective commencement, Iyayi said.
“Beyond discussion, Nigeria is supremely ripe for agro-industrialisation. As is typical, the Feed Nigeria Summit 2020 brings together the critical stakeholders to catalyse the required energy for effective take-off,” he said.
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