The Minister, represented by Mrs. Omolara Abimbola-Oguntuyi, the Lagos State Coordinator for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, shared this information at the Green Agric West Africa Expo 2025 in Lagos.
The three-day agro-expo, held from Tuesday to Thursday and themed "Green Agriculture: The Path to Food Self-Sufficiency in West Africa," was attended by farmers and key stakeholders in the agricultural value chain.
In his opening address, Kyari highlighted agriculture as the cornerstone of West Africa's economies and essential for sustainable development.
He added, “As we navigate the evolving challenges of climate change, population growth, and market demands, we must revolutionise the agricultural landscape through innovative technologies and sustainable practices.
"The government is dedicated to supporting sustainable farming practices that focus on preserving biodiversity, conserving natural resources, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. Additionally, it is working to create valuable networking opportunities for businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. Furthermore, there is a strong focus on food security, with an emphasis on implementing sustainable agricultural practices and policies that guarantee access to nutritious food for everyone."
"I would also like to stress that the private sector will continue to take the lead as the driving force behind the agricultural sector, while the government will focus on facilitating and providing the necessary infrastructure, systems, controls, and oversight.
"As we progress, I encourage all stakeholders to collaborate with us at GAWA 2025 in building a more sustainable, resilient, and prosperous agricultural sector in West Africa. Together, we can reshape the agricultural landscape, ensuring food security, creating wealth and jobs, reducing poverty, and promoting agricultural entrepreneurship, thereby driving economic growth for the benefit of both people and the planet."
The keynote speaker, Prof. Lateef Sanni, Executive Director of the Nigeria Stock Product Research Institute, urged the government to prioritize and ensure the prompt disbursement of credit facilities to farmers at single-digit interest rates.
He said, “The government needs to encourage the youths to go into farming. And for our youths to take up farming, they need credit facility, therefore, the government need to make available credit facility at a single digit interest rate to farmers.”
Speaking further on green agriculture, he said, “Essentially, Green Agriculture is purely technology-driven agriculture, an integrated pest management system and conservation agriculture.”
Earlier, in his opening speech, Mr. Abiodun Olaniyi, the host and Executive Director of Agriquest Africa Network Limited, stated that the expo was created to focus on the advancement of agriculture in West Africa.
He said, “We can see that there are lots of dynamics that have happened in agriculture in the past years and we are now taking it to the next level. People have to look at the sustainability of Agriculture and we can see the climate change coming up. We are also talking about regenerative agriculture in terms of our soil and the planting session. So it is a lot that we are using this expo to address technology that will put up our agricultural practices and future of agriculture in West Africa.”
