FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, says the upcoming Agribusiness Innovation Conference and Expo will complement government’s efforts at providing the enabling platform for farmers to take agriculture to the global community.
Special Assistant on Media to the minister, Mr Austine Elemue, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, said Aliyu stated this at a dinner organised by the FCT ahead of hosting of the 3rd Edition of the Agribusiness Innovation Conference and Expo in 2022.
She said the conference had become a platform where farmers and investors engaged with agro-allied companies to inject new technologies and practices that would help to facilitate the adoption of global best practices.
The minister said that the FCT administration had placed priority on creating opportunities in the agricultural sector with a view to engaging the teeming population in meaningful ventures.
She affirmed that as the nation grappled with the threat of insecurity and climate change, all hands must be on deck to create an atmosphere for stakeholder synergies that guaranteed efficient and sufficient food production in the context of social equity.
“It is a responsibility that must be addressed collectively and not just by government alone. We will continue to grow our economy together, eradicate poverty, reduce unemployment and youth restiveness, thereby entrenching food security,’’ the minister was quoted as saying.
Earlier, the Federal Capital Territory Administration Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, said the agricultural sector had continued to be among the contributors to the GDP of the country.
He added that the sector had provided the needed foreign exchange earnings, the foundation upon which the initial infrastructural development of Nigeria was built.
Adesola maintained that the convergence of agribusiness entrepreneurs and exhibitors in Abuja would further open the doors of opportunities to farmers to acquire new skills and technologies that would help boost production and processing activities.
The permanent secretary assured investors that the administration was working closely with relevant security agencies and community leaders to promptly neutralise any security threat. (NAN)