NAN-AE-3
Commodities
By Kudirat Musa
Abuja, Oct. 23, 2017 (NAN) The multiple stakeholders’ meeting on Agricultural Commodity Exchange in Nigeria on Monday, canvassed for training of farmers on effective production of agricultural commodities in the country.
The stakeholders said this in their communiqué at the end of their one day meeting in Abuja, which deliberated on ‘’Agricultural Commodity Exchange in Nigeria.’’
The communiqué was signed by Mr Victor Adejoh, the field leader for Synergos Nigeria, an NGO and the organiser of the forum.
“Nigeria needs to ensure standards in the production and packaging of its agricultural produce and this is achievable only if farmers could be trained on how to go about model farming.
“There is need for all agencies to work together to ensure standards of our agricultural produce in order not to experience reject of our produce at the international markets again.
“The ministry of Agriculture must work on standards measures and weight nationwide and do away with Nigeria’s way of reasoning,’’ it urged.
The stakeholders also stressed the need for government to improve on the construction of access roads to ensure easy transportation of agricultural produce and rapid industrialisation.
They said that agricultural business should be private-driven instead of being designed, financed and managed by the government.
The stakeholders recommended that challenges relating agricultural inputs should be addressed throughout grower and anchor borrower schemes while government should focus on addressing food security.
They commended the Federal and State Governments for coming up with export committee and recommended that one stop export facilitation centre be put in place in every state among others.
Officials from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kogi, Benue and Kaduna States, attended the meeting.
Others are the Agricultural Regulatory Agencies, State Agriculture Vision Group and State Agriculture Innovation Group (AIG) for market development.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Synergos Nigeria is running an intervention programme in Kogi, Benue and Kaduna states.
The intervention programme, which focuses on rice and cassava production, is aimed at reducing global poverty and increasing food security.
The programme is to create an interface between Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Nigeria Custom Service and Nigerian Commodity Exchange, Nigerian Export Promotion Council. (NAN)
ROK/FLP/AOM/DUA
(Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed/Dada Ahmed