it will interest you to know that so many farmers that have abandoned farming in Nigeria are now returning to farming, and this is because they now see a future in Nigeria’s Agribusiness. Again, the message is becoming clearer by the day to our leaders and financial institutions that lending to the Agricultural sector in Nigeria must be at single digit interest rate period!! You will kill our farmers when you lend to them at 26% per annum, Agribusiness is not cocaine business, but once the sector is well supported and strengthened, we will see our Nigerian farmers doing Agribusiness, making good profits and someday, we will see our farmers own their private jets and helicopters because they need them for serious business.

1. SOMEDAY,
NIGERIAN
FARMERS
WILL OWN
PRIVATE JETS

2. The 29th Omolayole management lecture series had as its theme:
AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION & CONTEMPORARY INVESTMENT
OPPORTUNITIES, held on the 26th of September 2013 at Commerce
House, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Omolayole Annual Management Lecture Series is held annually
in honour of Dr. Michael Omolayole who is the former Chairman and
Managing Director, Lever Brothers Nigeria Plc - now Unilever Nigeria
Plc, former Presidential Advisory Committee member and
Chairman/Director (past and present) of numerous multinational
companies to address contemporary socio-economic issues of
national and international concern.
Coordinator, Agribusiness & youth empowerment of Community of
Agricultural Stakeholders of Nigeria (CASON), Mr Sotonye Anga was
a Panelist at the event, and delivered a paper titled NEW PATH TO
WEALTH: MICRO & SMALL SCALE FOOD PROCESSING IN AFRICA.
Anga during his presentation acknowledged the gains of the
Agricultural transformation Agenda of the Federal Government. He
said the Government of President Jonathan has done well in the area
of Agriculture and we urge Mr President to do much more based on
the fact that Agriculture when giving the best attention will both
diversify and sustain the economy of Nigeria. We are pleased to see
the renewed commitment by President Jonathan towards reviving
Agriculture in Nigeria. Furthermore, I must say that I admire Dr
Akinwumi Adesina, he is a visionary leader, and under him as
Minister of Agriculture, the face of Agriculture in Nigeria has
changed for better. Nigerians now see a fine future in Agriculture, it
will interest you to know that so many farmers that have abandoned
farming in Nigeria are now returning to farming, and this is because
they now see a future in Nigeria’s Agribusiness. Again, the message
is becoming clearer by the day to our leaders and financial
institutions that lending to the Agricultural sector in Nigeria must
be at single digit interest rate period!! You will kill our farmers
when you lend to them at 26% per annum, Agribusiness is not
cocaine business, but once the sector is well supported and
strengthened, we will see our Nigerian farmers doing Agribusiness,

3. making good profits and someday, we will see our farmers own
their private jets and helicopters because they need them for
serious business.
Anga noted that Agriculture is expensive, and for Nigeria to be
competitive in the sector we need to really increase our national
spend on Agriculture, we need to boost the capacity of our research
institutes to deliver high yielding and productive crop and animal
varieties, we need to build and put in place robust, supportive
Agricultural infrastructure such as the staple crop processing zone
that will make the Agribusiness friendly. The time to make
Agribusiness in Nigeria to yield increase and profits for our people is
now! To say the truth, I am worried and wonder how far our
Agriculture can go with budget allocation of less than 3% of
national budget allotted to Agriculture, let me state clearly that it
will not be out of place to give at least 10% of our national budget
beginning with 2014 to Agriculture and maintain this trend for the
next 10 years, I mean till 2024, we need to do this. This is the way to
go if we are serious about accelerating development in the sector.
Also it is not just about giving a budget to Agriculture, we must
ensure that the budgeted amount is released and released on time.
Agriculture needs money, when funds for the Agric sector is not
released fully and on time, activities in the sector will not be
implemented, so the sector suffers and this is not the best for the
country.
Therefore, considering the transformative power of Agriculture, it is
important that top priority is giving to Agriculture because a decline
in food production will hurt the nation as a whole, whereas an
increase in food production will heavily reduce our food import bill
which stands at $11 Billion Dollars annually and thereby reduce
pressure on foreign exchange and strengthen our economy. He went
further to say that the capital outlay required to set up any micro or
small-scale Agribusiness that adds value to our primary Agricultural
products and crops will range between as little as $2,000 - $45,000
USD. I tell you, the huge post harvest loss recorded every year
during harvest of our crops falls between 20 to 70% depending on

4. the crop and when you translate the value and cost of this loss and
wastage, it runs into several Billions of Naira annually, this explains
why post harvest loss is a big threat to our food security and
existence and therefore requires urgent attention. Mr Anga called on
Governments in Nigeria and across Africa to provide incentives that
will support and encourage young people to establish small scale
food processing businesses as a way to reduce unemployment and
poverty in the continent. He said, supporting such initiatives will
result in several economic benefits for any country in Africa including
taking our youths of the streets, reducing crime rate, restoring
dignity to our young people and guarantee market for our farmers
and farm produce.
Gbenga Oyebode, MFR, Chairman, Okomo oil PLC, and Chairman
Access Bank PLC was a guest speaker, under the distinguished
chairmanship of Mr Goodie Ibru, OON, President, Lagos Chamber of
Commerce and Industry founded in 1888.
Mr Anga Sotonye was presented with an Award of appreciation by Dr
Micheal Omolayole at the event.
It is important to note that in the 29 year history of the Omolayole
lecture series, this is the first time that Agriculture will take the
centre stage. The event was well attended by Students, captains of
Industry and top Government officials.
Coordinator, Agribusiness and youth empowerment,
COMMUNITY OF AGRICULTURAL
STAKEHOLDERS OF NIGERIA (CASON)
Sotonye Anga is an Agribusiness strategist and enterprise
development expert with corporate experience spanning
2 decades in plantation development, export of Agricultural
commodities and trade consultancy across Africa, Asia and Europe.
Anga is passionate about agriculture as a business. Anga’s
presentations on Agriculture have a record of over 200,000 online
views worldwide and he has written over 300 articles promoting
agribusiness. Anga also serves as National Publicity Secretary,
NATIONAL CASHEW ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA.