Improved Agriculture: Nigeria’s Federal Ministry Of Agric, Solidaridad, Signs Mou.

Posted by Ignatius Okpara Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Sunday, March 7th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – An international network organization, Solidaridad, working in over 40 countries of the globe in various sectors of the economies, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nigeria’s federal Ministry of Agriculture and rural Development to improve Agricultural productivity in the country.

The organization, also has eight regional offices in five continents, including West Africa.

Its programme officer, Communication outreach, and Networking, Mr. Pita Ochai, disclosed this in Enugu weekend.

He said “to ensure Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in agriculture and divestment of the economy from dependency on crude oil, Solidaridad West Africa has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).

“With this, the two parties will collaborate based on mutual goals, interests, competency, expertise, and resources in the agricultural sector.

“The collaboration aims to improve the productivity of the agricultural sector and ensure that it contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

“Solidaridad has immense expertise in agriculture, guided by over 50 years of experience working across various supply chains.

According to him, “Nigeria will benefit from Solidaridad’s expertise in her effort to transform the agricultural sector under this MoU.

Mr. Ochai, noted that “the organization’s footprints in Nigeria spans more than a decade and have largely been on improving oil palm, cocoa, horticulture.

He disclosed that Presently, Solidaridad is implementing the National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS) in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Enugu, and Kogi states, while IDH, its partner, is implementing NISCOPS in Edo and Ondo state.

“Additionally, Solidaridad implements the horticultural programme – the Sustainable Development Goal Project 1 (SDGP1), dubbed

“Transforming Nigeria’s Vegetable Markets.” This programme is being implemented in the Kano and Kaduna states.

“The two programmes are funded by the Netherlands government.

“Under the Memorandum, Solidaridad will provide technical support to FMARD in the development of the oil palm sector.

He added that “This will align with Solidaridad’s aim to support Nigeria’s capacity-building efforts to regain her leading role in the global production of the commodity.

“As a data-driven organization, Solidaridad has successfully built a rich database of farmers across the country, which will be of help to FMARD in executing its policies in the development of agriculture, among others.

“Signing the MoU on behalf of Solidaridad West Africa, Dr. Samuel S. Ogallah, Solidaridad Senior Clim ate Specialist, Africa and Country Technical Lead in Nigeria expressed optimism that the collaboration between the two parties will contribute significantly to the agricultural development of Nigeria.

“The MoU is a welcome development as it will propel the efforts of Solidaridad West Africa and FMARD towards the achievement of food sufficiency and exports for the country,” he said.

“Solidaridad’s projects in Nigeria NISCOPS is improving the production of oil palm through best management and sustainable land-use practices and climate-smart agriculture.

He explained that the programme is aimed at improving the income and livelihoods of smallholder oil palm farmers in the project implementing states and the national food security at large.

“The SDGP1, on the other hand, is aimed at transforming the Nigeria vegetable markets with improved nutrition and livelihood of farmers in Nigeria.

Solidaridad Spokesman, further hinted that the organization works on creating sustainable supply chains from the producer to the consumer. This enables producers in developing countries to get a better price for better products, and it helps to preserve the environment.

“It helps companies in the marketplace to implement Corporate Social Responsibility and find sustainable suppliers.