Collaboration key to agric sector revolution - Sterling Bank

Sterling Bank on Thursday, September 3, 2020 identified collaboration as a key element in revolutionising the agric sector in Nigeria and the African sub-region.

Its Group Head, Agric and Solid Mineral Finance, Bukola Awosanya, who spoke ahead of this year’s Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) scheduled for between  September 23 and 24, 2020, with the theme “Fast Forward Agriculture: Exploiting The Next Revolution,” said aside financing opportunities for stakeholders, the bank would also use the summit to facilitate conversations around key areas in the sector.

She said: “The ongoing global pandemic has caused job losses across various sectors of the economy – agribusiness inclusive. With these job losses have come a drop in overall productivity and capacity for effective demand.”

She noted: “The control measures put in place to curb the spread of the virus in the country, such as restricted movement across key states and border closures have also contributed to slow growth in the agribusiness sector by resulting in inaccessibility of inputs and raw materials key for production. These, amongst others, are pertinent issues that can further reduce productivity in the agribusiness sector, if not quickly addressed.”

Awosanya said this year’s summit would seek to enable collaboration among its stakeholders to identify and deliver actionable steps to revolutionise Nigeria’s and sub-Saharan Africa’s agri-business industries for sustained long-term growth after the pandemic.

The summit will also have a virtual deal room, dedicated to bringing together business owners seeking capital and investors seeking opportunities to help facilitate sizeable investments that can drive increased output across the agri-business value chain.