By Correspondent in Uyo
The need to diversify the Nigerian economy from crude oil to agriculture has recrived a boost with Solidaridad West Africa, a solution-oriented international Civil Society Organisation (CSO) expressing determination to be part of such move.
In that, the organization said it was poised to bring its over 50-year experience in global agricultural transformation to help in joining hands with government and other stakeholders to ensure the success of the move.
Dr Sam Ogallah, Senior Climate Specialist, Africa and County Technical Lead, Nigeria for Solidaridad Network, West Africa, disclosed this at a two-day workshop on Thursday in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom.
The Reporters reports that the workshop is on National Initiative for Sustainable and Climate Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS) of Solidaridad West Africa in Nigeria (CSOs) and Media practitioners.
He said: “We have a lot of youths. How do we feed the 200 million plus mouths in the country without Agriculture? So, the way to go is to leapfrog on what we are already doing in Solidaridad.
“We have over 50 years of experience. So, we can bring that to bear in the Agriculture sector in Nigeria on all the commodities like Cashew, Cocoa, Sesame and a lot more.
“In solidaridad, we are working on 13 commodities. Our intervention in Nigeria is also beyond the oil palm sector.
“Currently, we are implementing a horticulture project in Nigeria, fruits and vegetables in Kano and Kaduna, we are going into aquaculture in Ogun State and cocoa in Cross River.
“We did livestock intervention in Kano in 2019. So, you can imagine that of all these commodities our interventions are cross-cutting and Nigeria, the way forward is Agriculture,” Ogallah said.
Commenting on the workshop, he said that the event that drew stakeholders from Akwa-Ibom, Cross-Rivers, Enugu and Kogi States would enable sharing of experiences and stock taking of activities of the 2020 and plan for the year 2021.
Contributing, Mr Kene Onukwube, Programme Manager of NISCOPS Solidaridad Nigeria, stressed need for involvement of smallholder farmers, especially through Social Inclusion.
“In terms of social inclusion, we are looking at women participation, youth participation and other vulnerable groups such as Persons Living With Disabilities and persons that are in the elderly class.
“We realised from our studies in 2019 that, the population of oil palm farmers is highly skewed among the aged persons and youth participation has been very low.
“So, we increased sensitisation and awareness on the need for youths and women engagement in the oil palm sector,” he said.
