IITA, NSE to launch Nigeria Stockbrokers Agribusiness Group

Agriculture has, once again, become a thriving business in Nigeria.

And now a new partnership to it has been launched by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the Corporate Farmers International (CFI) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. This is enterprise is called the Nigeria Stock Brokers Agribusiness Group (NSBAG).

The the official launch was held in Lagos at the IITA premises in Ogba.

Director, Country Alignment and System Integration, IITA, Kwesi Atta-Krah, said that it was time to transform agriculture from a mere culture-based to a business, in that agriculture as a culture was no longer productive.

“It has come to a point where agriculture should not be just a culture but a business. It has the potential of economic growth, job creation and revenue generation. There is need to create an avenue to engage private sector into agriculture for it to succeed,’’ he said.

Atta-Krah said it was important for everyone to work together for the goals of the initiative to succeed.

Chairman of NSBAG, Babatunde Sobamowo, said that the necessity of the group was to ensure a growth rate in agriculture contributions to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

Sobamowo said that it was time to raise incomes, reduce poverty level among others via agriculture because farmers were losing money due to the fact that there was no platform to place agricultural products.