Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has said that “Nigerians must key into the great potentials in global market and bring into reality the government efforts to export fresh produce”. Adesina made this call while receiving the Ambassadors of Ireland and Belgium, who were led by the Executive Secretary of Agricultural Fresh Produce Growers & Exporters Association of Nigeria (AFGEAN), Akin Sawyerr to his office. He said, Nigeria with 84million hectare of arable land, has a great potential in fresh produce. The goal of Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) according to him, is to turn Nigeria to an Africa industrialized economy by making agriculture a straight line business. He said Nigeria’s potential in horticulture is very high, as the country is the second highest producer of Citrus in the World after China; number one producer of pineapple in Africa as well as major producer of mangoes, tomatoes and so on. “As the largest producer of most of these produce, we must get to the global market, we, as a government, have developed 14 Staple Crops Processing Zones (SCPZ)”. On the issue of exporting fresh produce, the Minister said, “it is important to have a market strategy, an investment plan, a well coordinated strategy on how we are going to play in the global market, we need to deploy a Research and Development (R&D) system that does not allow us only to produce but to give what people want” He informed them that plans are underway to create what he called “Trade & Marketing Corporation” which would be modeled after Kenya’s Horticulture Development Authority (HDA). The Trade & Marketing Corporation would be expected to coordinate the work of horticulture for domestic and international market Adesina added. He believed that Nigeria’s late entry into the Horticulture market does not mean it would not make an impact; “Ethiopia entered the horticulture market as a late comer but got things right, so we have to be aggressive in brand marketing of produce coming out of Nigeria”. Adesina said the government is making efforts to ensure that DHL Aircraft that bring goods to Nigeria no longer fly back empty as it would henceforth take back to Europe Nigeria Fresh Produce. To achieve this, he said a lot needs to be done in respect of development of a well coordinated strategy that would bring about Institutional arrangement and research and development that would support horticulture. The strategy, according to him, would guide the country in understanding the demands of other countries. Earlier, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium; Mr. Dirk Verheyen said there were concrete plans by his country to develop a new partnership with Nigeria, advising that the country should do her best in ensuring that DHL planes that bring goods to Nigeria do not fly back empty by producing enough fresh produce for export. In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of AFGEAN; Akin Sawyerr said the objectives of AFGEAN amongst others are; including Nigeria farmers in the export business, ensuring access to international market and improving balance of trade between Nigeria and the rest of the World. “Our association’s concern is how to get the fresh produce that are in high demand and make the fresh produce market more attractive in terms of packaging, storage and logistic”, he said.
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