The Kogi Agricultural Development Project (Kogi ADP) has concluded plans to host an all-encompassing Agric Summit that will open up the state to local and foreign investors.
The Managing Director, Kogi ADP, Mr. Oyisi Okatahi made this known to newsmen in Lokoja.
He said the summit will help Kogi state consolidate on her competitive advantage as the number one cassava producer in Nigeria and also help her become number one in production of rice, cashew, soyabean and maize.
According to Okatahi, the Summit, which will hold on 20th and 21st November 2017, is an opportunity to bring together all stakeholders – investors, farmers, sponsors, students and general public – to deliberate and create opportunities within the state. He said students will have opportunity to share their thoughts on agribusiness through essay competition.
“Kogi State occupies 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.
“The Summit is programmed to create jobs within the state, especially for youths and women. The event will help Kogi state with income generation and trade balance. It will bring in local and foreign investment opportunities, open up cluster farming centres across the state and ultimately to create wealth for the teaming population of the state,” he said.
He added that the ‘Fair Agric Project’ will be launched during the Summit.
The ‘Fair Agric Project’, he said, is the vehicle for the implementation of Governor Yahaya Bello’s agriculture vision for Kogi State. He said the project will birth ‘Fair Agric Villages’ across the state.
“Fair Agric Villages are villages that shall supply the entire value chain for agriculture which includes supply of inputs crop production, livestock, fisheries, infrastructure, technology, processing, marketing, credit system and for export.
“By the end of the summit we shall be able to facilitate 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.
“The Fair Agric Villages are conceptualized as a project so as to expedite approvals and remove bottlenecks or bureaucracy that potential investors could have in doing business with Kogi state government. The approval process is simple, standard and merit based. The two approvals required are the Project Manager (Managing Director ADP) and the Project Sponsor (Executive Governor, Kogi State).” he explained.
Okatahi urged interested persons to check Kogi ADP website, https://kogiadp.com/kogi-agric-summit, for more details on the Summit.
