In an effort to increase investment in Nigeria’s agro industry, the European Union (EU) has announced a digital platform. Ms Myriam Ferran, Deputy Director General, Directorate of International Partnerships (INTPA), European Commission, made this known at the 9th edition of the Nigeria-EU Business Forum in Abuja.
According to Ferran, the platform’s goal was to boost individual investments in the nation’s agro industry. She clarified that the programme would support Nigeria’s achievement of sustained economic development in addition to lowering poverty and food insecurity. “The EU-Nigeria Agribusiness Platform will support increased agribusiness opportunity exploration and exploitation between the EU and Nigeria.”
This would be accomplished by creating and maintaining a network of engaged agricultural owners in Nigeria and the EU. A type of digital agricultural platform known as an agribusiness platform offers digital marketing, trade, or investing space for business and/or transactional activity. “It also facilitates interactions, communications, integrations, and cooperation between Nigerian and European SMEs in the agro-food system and agro-industry.”
Building connections and fostering interactions between Nigerian and EU agriculture stakeholders, particularly among SMEs, is the main goal of the EU-Nigeria agriculture Platform, according to Ferran. Additionally, she argued, it will encourage investment and trade between the two parties.
The November 2020 EU-Nigeria Ministerial Dialogue pledges are the source of the concept for an agribusiness platform. It was determined to establish an EU-Nigeria Agri-business Platform as a structured interaction between the agricultural and agro-industrial sectors of the Nigerian and EU farming and agri-food communities after consulting with the Nigerian government.
“This is to foster business linkages, especially for SMEs, and to promote trade and attract responsible investment,” she stated. According to Ferran, the EU-Nigeria agricultural Platform will be run by Agribusiness Register Limited, a private sector organisation knowledgeable about the agricultural ecosystem.
According to her, a stakeholders’ consultative gathering gave rise to the concept of transferring the platform to a private sector-led organisation that collaborates with both public and private sector parties. She continued by saying that the company would collaborate and interact with specific agribusinesses, farmer associations, aggregators, and other important players.
She added that it would foster cooperation and partnerships with EU implementing partners in the pertinent fields of entrepreneurship, digital, and agriculture with pertinent Nigerian government agencies. It would collaborate specifically with the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Industry, Trade, and Investment, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.
