Farming Africa meets minister of Agriculture Nigeria

During a visit to Nigeria I get the opportunity to chake hands with Chief Audu Ogbeh, the minister of Agriculture. Of course I will also visit some farms and agricultural project in this West-African country.

Minister agriculture Nigeria, Chief Audu Ogbeh
Chief Audu Ogbeh, minister of Agriculture, Nigeria    © Daily Trust

In Lagos, the economical capital of Nigeria, I am asked to speech about the Dutch successtory on agriculture and how Agriculture in Nigeria can learn from this. I am one of the speakers on a conference about ‘Sustainable Agriculture under Economic Recession’.

The conference will be organised by the Nigerian Association of Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ). The President of this association, Stanley Ihedigbo, invited me, as he is also the organiser of the conference. Ihedigbo covers economic issues, amongst which agriculture, for the New Telegraph en the National Mirror.

The conference is a meeting for Nigerian journalists, but also agricultural officials are invited, such as different State Commissioners for Agriculture from different districts, but also other agricultural representatives as Alhaji Sani Dangote, president of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group. And of course: the minister of Agriculture Chief Audu Ogbeh.

Audu Ogbeh is one of the most dedicated and progressive ministers of agriculture in Africa. He strives for a revival of the agricultural sector in his country, now the oil and gas industry of the biggest African Economy no longer seems to be sustainable. He shows concerns about his country spending 22 billion dollars annually on food imports, while the country, according to him, possesses all that are required to have food sufficiency.

With this, the minister of Agriculture Audu Ogbeh shares the vision of Farming Africa that development of agriculture starts with knowledge. To develop agriculture, he please for extension service stations in all 774 local government areas in Nigeria.

After the conference, I will stay in the country for about a week. Of course I will visit different farms and agricultural projects. Do you have suggestions or ideas for me, please send me an email: marc@farmingafrica.net.

© Marc van der Sterren

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