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More than 2000 participants drawn from across Africa will attend Agriculture Summit Africa powered by Sterling Bank in Abuja this week. The top-level summit which brings together agriculture value chains players, policy makers, investors, development agencies, international finance institutions to unlock Africa’s huge agriculture potential holds from September 5th – 6th.
With 25 confirmed speakers and 200 decision makers on the line up, the summit themed ““Agriculture – Your Piece of The Trillion-Dollar Economy”, is the largest gathering of leading minds in agriculture, policy and regulation, international trade, finance and infrastructure development on the continent.
Addressing the media on the Summit, Yemi Odubiyi, Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Sterling Bank, said it will address the issues preventing the very important sector from attaining its potential because food security on the continent has become a critical issue.
Odubiyi disclosed that agrarian lands are becoming increasingly desolate in the face of climate change and rapid population growth making food security a big challenge. Referencing Nigeria’s population estimated at 200 million and growing at an annual rate of 3 percent, the bank director stated that ensuring food security will be a challenge with annual economic growth rate at less than 3 percent.
According to Odubiyi, the adoption of technology, quality seedlings, and improved soil fertility will lead to agricultural productivity and Nigerians can export farm produce to other African countries, not just Europe; which is what getting a piece of Africa’s $1 trillion agribusiness economy is all about. “Working with all other stakeholders, Sterling Bank can help build farming businesses from small land holders to very large, sophisticated operations that help enhance food security in Nigeria and on the continent,” he remarked.
Following a hugely successful agriculture summit last year, the bank decided to raise the bar this year by making this year’s summit a continental affair. The 2018 edition brought together smallholder farmers, input suppliers, agro-processing entrepreneurs, development finance agencies, policy makers and captains of industry in Abuja. It focused on co-creating a sustainable Nigerian economy through rural agricultural enterprise.
Sterling Bank has played a significant role in developing the country’s agriculture value chain. It is a thought leader and the lender of choice for smallholder farmers, agribusinesses, input suppliers and other players in the value chain in Nigeria.
