Governor Seyi Makinde and state officials as well as experts were at Cotonou, Republic of Benin recently to chart a path for transforming agriculture in Oyo State.
At a retreat, the governor led stakeholders across various value chains in the state to design an implementation plan for agribusiness for the pacesetter state.
The governor promised officials of the state that his administration will give agriculture the necessary ‘political will’ to play its role in transforming the economic fortunes of the state.
“I want to assure all that Oyo State will provide the political will needed to make the state the agribusiness hub of Nigeria,” he said.
At the retreat facilitated by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, Makinde further pledged to attract more private investments to the sector through the provision of an enabling environment to attract investors.
He said the state would ensure agribusiness-friendly policies that would boost investor confidence.
Kenton Dashiell, deputy director-general -partnerships for delivery, IITA commended the governor for demonstrating an uncommon leadership style by participating in all the sessions of the three-day retreat.
“I have never seen such a commitment from a governor… and I believe the document coming out of this retreat will help the state to achieve the vision of an agribusiness hub for Nigeria,” he added.
On his part, Martin Fregene, director for agriculture and agro-allied division with the African Development Bank (AfDB) said the commitment of the state to agriculture was a step in the right direction.
“Let me also commend the governor of Oyo for organizing this very important meeting and participating fully in it to have a vision and an implementation plan for agribusiness in the state,” he said.
Fregene urged the state government to adopt the agri-business approach to unlock the potential of agriculture in the state.
“For Oyo state to move forward in agriculture, you must treat agriculture as a business,” he explained.
According to him, AfDB would be willing to support the state in its quest to transform agriculture.
Adebowale Akande, executive adviser to the Governor on Agriculture gave thumbs up to the retreat, adding that recommendations from the retreat would help the state to achieve its vision of becoming an agribusiness hub
The retreat had four sessions comprising: Developing a vision for the state in agriculture, identifying the obstacles to the vision, developing strategic actions to deal with the obstacles to the vision, and developing an implementation plan.
REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan.
