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The Kogi Agricultural Development Project (ADP) on Saturday says it has concluded plans to launch an agricultural project to serve as vehicle for implementation of Gov. Yahaya Bello’s vision for agriculture in the state.
Mr Oyisi Okatahi, the Managing Director of Kogi ADP, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that the project, tagged: “Fair Agric Project” (FAP) would be launched during an agricultural Summit holding on Nov. 20 & 21.
He added that the project would also remove bottlenecks that investors often encounter in doing business in Kogi.
Okatahi noted that the FAP would birth “Fair Agric Villages” (FAV) across the state, which, according to him, will supply the entire value chain for agriculture inputs for crop production, livestock, fisheries, infrastructure, technology, processing, marketing, credit system and for export.
“The FAV is conceptualised as a project to expedite approvals and remove bottlenecks or bureaucracy that potential investors could have in doing business with Kogi State Government.
“We are proposing an Agric Summit to hold on Nov. 20 and 21 titled: “Agriculture: Investment Opportunities”. It is an opportunity to bring together all stakeholders including investors, farmers, sponsors, academics, students and general public to deliberate and create opportunities within the state.
“The aim of the summit is to create jobs in the state, especially for youths and women; income generation and trade balance. The Students will also have opportunity to share their thoughts on agribusiness through essay competition.
“The summit will also bring in local and foreign investment opportunities, open up cluster farming centres across the state and ultimately create wealth for the teaming population of the state,” the director said.
He added that the meeting would be an all-encompassing Agric Summit that would open up Kogi to local and foreign investors, and consolidate on her competitive advantage as the number one cassava producer in Nigeria.
He noted that Kogi shared boarders with 10 states and occupied a strategic position to lead agricultural development in Nigeria given its natural endowment of resources and confluence of the two major rivers coupled with fertile alluvial soil deposits.
“Today, Kogi is already the number one cassava producer in Nigeria and by extension number one in the world going by Nigeria’s 54 million metric tonnes (MT) per annum (FAO, 2013))
“This summit will help us consolidate on production of cassava, rice and cashew, and also to be number one for other crops such as soyabean and maize.
“By the end of the summit we shall be able to liaise with other appropriate authorities to grant investor’s conditional certificate of ownership (C of O) to develop Fair Agric Villages. This will be tied to performance milestones.
NAN reports that Kogi ADP is empowered by the Edict 12 of 1991 of Kogi State to develop agriculture in the state, source funding and develop infrastructure.
(NAN)
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