Vice president Yemi Osinbajo says government will not relent in efforts at reforming the agriculture sector. Osinbajo was speaking at the Africa economic conference which opened in Abuja on Monday.
Lara Afolayan reports that African policy makers, development partners and other leading players, meet minds on how the agriculture sector can be properly harnessed for economic benefits.
Discussants believe this sector holds the key to the continent’s development, particularly through job creation. taming inflation and opening up rural economies.
The Nigerian government does not agree less. The authorities say they have already keyed into this ideology through the right policy initiatives in favour of agriculture.
The Africa development Bank identifies access to finance and modern technologies as the sector’s critical needs at this time.
It pledges to give 24 billion dollars funding support to the sector over the next ten years.
This is alongside an 800 million dollar technology for Africa initiative expected to benefit forty million farmers.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa advises African governments to ensure their interventions are indeed what the sector needs at this time.
The task before African governments, as agreed here, is kicking hunger out of the continent.
Discussants also charged African countries to view agriculture from a business perspective, rather than a development project.
The conference agrees these are some of the ways the continent can put an end to spending millions of dollars annually on food importation.
