Plans are now in place for the Agra Innovate West Africa exhibition, a forum for stakeholders and leaders in Nigeria’s agribusiness space to offer solutions to financing challenges for commercial agriculture.
The programme, billed for November 27 and 28 at the Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, will have Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti state governor lead the team of delegates.
It is targeted at driving product exhibition, business-to-business linkage, deal making, networking, technology transfer, knowledge exchange, public-private collaboration and policy discourse.
Michel Deelen, deputy head of mission, Royal Netherlands Embassy will speak on emerging potential partnership opportunities between Nigeria and the Netherlands.
Other expected dignitaries are Vanessa Adams, vice president, country support and delivery, AGRA (Kenya); Alex Elphistone, programme director, Adam Smith International; Fatima Ali Mohammed, chief executive officer, Brand Warrior; Ade Adefeko, vice president, OLAM Nigeria; Nneka Eze, country director, Dalberg Global Advisors, and Olusegun Ojo, director general, National Agricultural Seeds Council, Abuja.
Sarah Alade, former deputy governor of Central Bank Nigeria will deliver the keynote address.
At the last edition, Onikepo Akande, former minister of trade and investment, gave the keynote spoke on the need for Nigerian and West African farmers to use modern agricultural tools to boost food production.
She expressed concerns over massive wastage of food after harvest, saying that although much food is being produced through the efforts of peasant farmers, so much goes to waste from the field to the table.
“After the success of last year’s Agra Innovate in Nigeria, we are ensuring that the upcoming exhibition will again have the great ambience all attendees have previously experienced. The seminars have consistently been the best in terms of layout, facilities and hospitality. It will be the one place this year where the whole agriculture industry will come together to learn and do business,” said Folusho Olaniyan, programme director, Agra Innovate West Africa in a statement.
