With global warming threatening harvests, and the world’s population set to grow to around 10 billion by 2050, a sustainable agricultural revolution is needed to secure food supplies and protect the resources that sustain us.
With a convergence of relevant industry actors, stakeholders and enthusiasts, the first session of our new Agriculture Seminar Series in Abuja was themed AgriTech – Innovative Approaches to Agriculture. Among other things, the session addressed how innovative and new farming techniques are transforming the agricultural landscape in Nigeria and how small-holder farmers, start-ups and entrepreneurs engage technology for improved farming output.
The Agriculture Seminar Series present an opportunity for SMEs, investors, new and intending farmers to learn from the experience of experts and join in the movement for the diversification and technological enhancement of agriculture in Nigeria. It is a platform for prime networking, best practices, ideation and know-how transfer.
At our first session we welcomed Mevis Aiyeju, founder and CEO of M.E. Solutions, who specializes in soil-less farming, as well as cashew farming. Ms. Aiyeju took us through the journey of how her company M.E Solutions started citing the challenges and setbacks it took to perfect her vision.
Challenges like:
- exploitation of farmers by traders and middlemen by buying commodities at extremely low prices leaving the farmers and the host community with almost 100% margin which unfortunately doesn’t take the communities out of poverty
- Hostile environment due to lack of collaboration with community leaders
- Farms not being actual farms but 50-60 years old trees that the community may have planted to avoid erosion.
Furthermore, she spoke about how to target and eliminate these challenges through targeted capacity building programmes for farmers and executive members of host community(s). Questions on meeting international standards, best practices and ensuring quality control were also thoroughly addressed by the speaker.
The seminar modelled an informal setting and was very interactive. The next edition of Agriculture Seminar Series will take place in April. Other related information will be announced soon.
For enquires on partnership and sponsorship please contact
Chinenye Odenigbo
