Agriculture Summit Africa will be held in Abuja from 5-6 September 2019, bringing together policymakers, development agencies, international financial institutions and value chain players
The international summit themed “Agriculture – Your Piece of The Trillion-Dollar Economy” seeks actualisation of the US$1 trillion African agribusiness economy dream by 2030.
More than 50 per cent of the world’s fertile and unused land estimated as 450mn ha is in Africa.
Bukola Awosanya, group head, agri-finance and solid minerals at Sterling Bank, said, ‘’Agriculture productivity in Africa is low and a source of concern in the sector that accounts for 60 per cent of the continent’s labour force and 75 per cent of its domestic trade.”
“The creation of a single African market with more than 1.2bn people through the Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) treaty is not without possible adverse impact on the sector’s growth which calls for a pan-African agriculture summit.’’
She further noted that the bank has been at the forefront of Nigeria’s agricultural transformation agenda which seeks commercialisation at scale nationwide through a focus on value chains where the country has a comparative advantage.
