The curtains have dropped on the day-four of the Nigerian Editors conference in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, with an urgent and a practical note for agribusiness development in Nigeria.
The event, which had in attendance some sitting and former governors, representatives of state governments and some successful farmers, brought together senior editors from around Nigeria.
According to available statistics, Nigeria has 84 million hectares of fertile land.
Thirty-two million is currently cultivated, with most of it on subsistence level, leaving 52 million hectares untapped.
Though the country boosts of two of the largest Rivers in Africa – River Benue and River Niger, with agriculture accounting for two-thirds of the nation’s employment, experts say the country is still behind in achieving food sufficiency
And how to achieve the potential in agriculture in Nigeria especially in the face of dwindling crude oil prices is the focus of the conference of the Guild of Editors in Port Harcourt.
Mr Lucas Adeniji, the Managing Director of Niji Farms, one of the largest cassava farms in Nigeria, believes agriculture must become a business to succeed.
The representative of Niger State, Jibrin Ndace, says some state governments are already making huge investments in agriculture.
The conference ended with a call on the Federal and State governments to invest in large scale commercial agriculture, empower farmers and grow the economy significantly in a way that is measurable in the coming months.
