The Nigerian AgriBusiness Group (NABG) and major stakeholders are set to take significant steps to adopt standards for the country’s agricultural commodities to ensure that the quality of products meets global market benchmarks.
This was the focus of a one-day stakeholders’ consultative workshop tagged “Unlocking Our Agri-Commodity Market, Setting the Appropriate Value for Nigeria’s Agri-Produce Exports,” recently concluded in Abuja.
The programme, which is powered by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is to support the country’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and develop capacity and technical competence to produce safe foods and make them more competitive globally.
Director General of NABG, Dr. Manzo Maigari, in an interview said the workshop was aimed at developing a national agricultural commodity standard-grading system and to evolve a policy to support commodity grading systems; noting that Nigeria is lagging behind as its agri-commodities were yet to be competitive in the global market despite the huge potentials in the country.
According to him, “In modern business and trade, people want to be sure of the quality of goods they produce, the sanitation, and hygiene of what they are selling. If we want to play in the global scene, then, we must comply with the global best practices and align ourselves to global benchmarks and standards.
“This is something that does not exist currently in Nigeria and therefore as custodians of agribusiness in Nigeria, we have taken the initiative to bring stakeholders together both in the public and private sector, so that we can craft a policy that will enable Nigeria to compete favorably in Africa and across the world.”
Executive Secretary National Action Committee on African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), Francis Anatogu, told reporters that the policy framework would help to focus on what the nation needs to do to ensure that the objective is achieved. The ACFTA boss emphasised that the institutions or entities that would implement the policy should be backed by law to make it sustainable.
The CEO of Agribusiness Innovation (AGRICON), Mrs Stella Oraka, in her comment said the idea is for Nigerians to produce what they eat and sell what they produce; calling for the empowerment of SMEs to produce safe food to make it available for the masses and to also export same.
Nigeria’s Country Manager of BOP Incorporated, Mercy Mayaki, said the initiative was poised to play a big role in removing more Nigerians from poverty as many of them would leverage on the opportunity.