Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms Abisola Olusanya has called for a change in the way agriculture is described, insisting that a shift in language could help draw more young people and investors into the sector.
She proposed replacing the term ‘agricultural sector’ with ‘raw material economy’, urging that the change could reshape how people perceive business opportunities in the sector.
She spoke recently at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce Advocacy Roundtable in Lagos.
Olusanya said agriculture should no longer be viewed mainly as farming. In her view, it is a broad business ecosystem covering aggregation, storage, logistics, processing, packaging, data and waste utilisation.
She urged investors and young Nigerians not to exit the sector, citing its long-term opportunities. She noted that food would remain indispensable even as the global economy moves away from fossil fuels.
“I also believe that language determines where people imagine that opportunity exists. And so maybe going forward instead of talking about the agricultural sector, we should start saying the raw material economy, may be that would actually make people change their minds,” she said.
According to her, describing agriculture as a raw material economy would help young people and investors see opportunities in businesses that convert biological raw materials into products required by people and industries.
The President and Chairman of Council of the NBCC, Prince Abimbola Olashore, said Nigeria’s agricultural potential could support economic diversification, food security and inclusive growth. He added that this would be possible if supply-chain challenges were addressed.
The Managing Director/CEO of the Nigeria Export-Import Bank, Abubakar Bello, was represented by the Head of its Lagos Regional Office, Daniella Jarikre-Ikazoboh. She said limited processing was leaving much of Nigeria’s agricultural produce in raw form. The result, she said, was lost jobs, value addition and foreign exchange earnings.
Bello said NEXIM was financing processing lines, packaging, warehousing and quality-control infrastructure. The support covers the cocoa, cashew, sesame, ginger, shea and oil-palm value chains. It is meant to help enterprises expand capacity and export higher-value products.
