Agriculture Minister Calls For More Collaboration Between FG and Private Sector

Efforts to boost growth in the agricultural sector have been ramped up by the federal government of Nigeria, together with the private sector, in a bid to assure food security for the future. This is part of the Green Imperative Programme, an initiative developed to aid in developing an agricultural based private business model through a food value chain.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Muhammad Sabo Nanono revealed this while speaking at MTN Nigeria’s Revv Programme masterclass on Thursday, October 8th, 2020.

Delivering the keynote address, the Minister stressed the importance of The Revv Programme. “I will like to take this opportunity to say that programmes like this are of fundamental importance to the sector and I hope that your deliberations will come up with a way that can foster more collaboration between the private sector and government.”

On his part, the technical adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Saleh Momale, said “the Federal Government is vigorously pursuing the implementation of the Green Imperative Programme, which is largely a technology driven intervention that will lead to higher level of mechanisation within the agricultural sector, and by design the private sector will be strong players”.

Speaking on the involvement of the private sector, he shared that as part of the Green Imperative Programme, about 780 service centres will be developed throughout the country. “Within these service centres, leasing arrangements with farmers will be led by the private sector with huge support from the government in terms of guarantees, quality control, and support with access and distribution”.

The virtual session themed ‘The Agricultural Conundrum: Connecting the Dots through Partnerships and Technology’ had in attendance experts from the agricultural sector including Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Livestock247.com, Ibrahim Maigari Ahmadu; Deputy General Manager, Large Enterprises, Bank of Industry, Lolo Ruth Kadafa; Chief Executive Officer, Farmcrowdy, Onyeka Akumah and founder, Simply Green Limited, Adesola Ladoja. The session was moderated by the Founder, Wandieville Media, Yewande Kazeem.

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The Revv Programme is an initiative from MTN Nigeria to help small businesses rethink and retool their operations to withstand the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic using a four-pronged approach that includes masterclasses, access to market, productivity tools support and expert advisory.

Participants in The Revv Programme will also have an excellent opportunity to join MTN Accelerator Programme, Y’ello 200 where select small business owners will benefit from a broad range of exclusive technology and productivity support.