Ex-Canadian Minister Seeks Partnership on Agriculture in Nigeria
In the areas of food security and economic sustainability, Ex-Canadian Secretary of State and Minister of Immigration and Citizenship, Mr Weiner Gerry, has advocated for partnership between Nigeria and Canada.
Gerry stated this in a virtual engagement, on Wednesday, with members of the Journalists International Forum for Migration (JIFORM), an international media network, that the two areas were key to ending irregular migration.
He made the statement ahead of the body’s fourth Global Migration summit slated for Oct. 2 to Oct. 14 in Toronto, Canada. It was gathered that the summit would be focusing on Climate Change, Human Mobility and Sustainable Investment.
According to Gerry who is also the Executive Director, Global Relations Partnership and Customers Satisfaction, Canada Startup Visa, the challenges confronting human mobility in recent times could be traced to the imbalance in global economic progression.
He explained that the imbalance included widening the poverty net between the rich and poor countries.
Gerry then buttressed that he was willing to facilitate partnership between Nigeria and Canadian companies to conduct thorough research on the Agro food sector in Nigeria and other African countries, to comprehend specific challenges and opportunities and identify potential partners.
Africa, he elaborated, has enormous potentials that could be fine-tuned to enhance the standard of living of her people.
“Canada is one of the countries with food surplus while half of Africa goes to sleep hungry every night.We have 10 per cent of the world’s freshwater supply but half of Africans may be drinking contaminated water. What a world without conscience,” he lamented.
He further said there was a need for Canada and other top economies to back Nigeria with a structured positive economic blueprint that would impact Africa.
According to him, if a roadmap on Agro-food production and technologies from Canada could be adopted by the Nigerian government, the project could be funded by international development organisations.
In his words: “This also includes impact investors, with grants to support the initiatives that will encourage Canadian investors to explore opportunities in Agro food startups in Africa to foster self-sufficiency.
“This is to empower local communities to independently operate and maintain the technologies especially in Nigeria.
“These will lead to collaborations with Canadian companies willing to share their technologies and expertise, facilitate knowledge exchange and technology transfer by organising workshops, webinars, and training sessions.
“This will be to ensure that the technologies being transferred are adapted to suit the local agricultural and environmental conditions in Nigeria and in many African nations.”
The fourth JIFORM summit would be hosted by Abedorc Productions, Toronto.
Agro Nigeria / Foluke Ibitomi
