US, Nigeria Seek Solutions To Boost AgricTrade

The U.S. Mission’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has partnered with the national authorities to follow innovative solutions aimed astatine enhancing cultivation commercialized for economical maturation and nutrient security.

The president of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Kaduna Chapter, Matthew Obogbaimhe, said this astatine a roundtable connected Thursday successful Abuja.

Obogbaimhe said revitalising Nigeria’s cultivation assemblage required much than commercialized restrictions, stressing that the assemblage demands innovation, sustainable practices and concern successful infrastructure.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the roundtable, tagged “Innovative Approaches to Agricultural Trade for Economic Growth and Food Security,” was organised by FAS successful collaboration with NACC and the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG).

The treatment focused connected the impacts of Nigeria’s cultivation commercialized restrictions connected nutrient prices, section accumulation and investment.

It besides provided the U.S. Mission’s FAS with an accidental to link with argumentation advisers and propulsion for reconsideration of restrictions connected U.S. cultivation exports.

Obogbaimhe said the concern with FAS was driven by a imaginativeness to beforehand cultivation innovation and commercialized crossed Africa.

“The roundtable provided a unsocial level to speech ideas and research innovative cultivation commercialized policies that payment consumers and farmers successful Nigeria and the United States,” helium said.

Christopher Bielecki, Agricultural Counselor for the FAS bureau successful Lagos, said the forum enabled stakeholders to sermon innovative solutions to fortify cultivation trade, trim costs for agribusinesses and consumers, and make prosperity for American and Nigerian farmers.

“The U.S. Mission’s FAS bureau looks guardant to continued collaboration with the Nigerian authorities and agribusiness stakeholders to construe the roundtable’s recommendations into action.

“By moving unneurotic to beforehand innovative cultivation commercialized policies, the United States and Nigeria tin foster greater nutrient security, make opportunities for value-added processing, pull concern and fortify the cultivation sector,” Bielecki said.

NABG manager general, Jafar Umar, described the roundtable arsenic timely and highly applicable to the nationalist sermon connected commercialized and nutrient security.

He expressed the group’s readiness to spouse with FAS, noting that NABG remains the starring dependable of agribusiness successful Nigeria.

Also speaking, Dr Betty Adegebo, a subordinate of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) probe team, said Nigeria’s cultivation commercialized restrictions had resulted successful higher nutrient prices, accrued informal trade, and inefficiencies successful production, portion failing to execute self-sufficiency.

Presenting NIPSS findings, Adegebo said nutrient ostentation surged to 30.6 per cent successful 2023, with staples specified arsenic atom and beef much than doubling successful terms implicit 2 years.

She noted that the terms of 1 kilogramme of section atom roseate by 137.32 per cent year-on-year successful October 2024, portion boneless beef accrued by 98.73 per cent.

“Production challenges persist, including an estimated maize accumulation spread of 300,000 metric tonnes annually, and debased yields of 2.0 tonnes per hectare, acold beneath South Africa’s 5.2,” Adegebo said.

She added that informal commercialized had expanded, particularly successful atom and poultry, arsenic precocious tariffs and import bans continued to promote cross-border smuggling contempt authorities measures specified arsenic the 2019 borderline closure.

Adegebo said NIPSS recommended reducing import bans and tariffs, adopting semipermanent predictable commercialized policies, harmonising tariffs and sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, and leveraging frameworks specified arsenic the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

She besides called for the constitution of a centralised assemblage to oversee cultivation commercialized regulations, amended authoritative trade, fortify sanitary and phytosanitary oversight, and boost authorities revenue.

The lawsuit was attended by Nigerian cultivation commercialized argumentation advisors, legislative representatives, agribusiness leaders, researchers, regulators, and U.S. cultivation commercialized associations. (NAN)