Nigeria Needs to Deploy Technology to Revolutionise Agric Sector, Says Israeli Govt

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Business stakeholders from Israel have advised Nigeria to take advantage of evolving technological innovations to develop the country’s non-oil sector, especially agriculture.

Some of the Israeli business experts who spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria -Israel Business Forum held in Abuja, yesterday, said one factor inhibiting the speedy development of Nigeria’s agricultural potential was the inability to deploy modern technology innovations to enhance production of food commodities.

Speaking at the event, the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, said her country was proud to partner the government of Nigeria on the development of the economic and business sectors.

The Ambassador who was represented by the Consul, Inbar Lipman Garden, said Israeli was open for business partnership with Nigeria.

“We are ready to partner with the government and the private sectors in areas of mutual benefit to our countries.

“I implore you to take advantage of today’s presentations and join us in a quest to eradicate poverty and insecurity in the world.  We look forward to receiving the dividends of this gathering, hoping it will improve the trade business between our countries,” she said.

On her part, the Nigerian Ambassador in Tel-Aviv, Agatha Afoekelu, urged Nigerian entrepreneurs to take advantage of the friendly business relations with Israel to increase our export trade.

Ofoekelu who spoke through a virtual platform said: “For me, again, it is a great opportunity this time. I urge Nigerians to use this advantage to think of products to export to Israel.

 “Now that the door is open for us, I heard the speech of the representative of Ambassador Freeman, and she said they are open to receive us, they are open for business.  So I encourage all members to be ready. We are also ready to receive you, to make you feel at home, to make you happy.”

Managing Director of ONIDA, an Israeli Agric and Aquaculture Solutions Company based in Abuja, Kidron Israel, said Nigeria has great potential to become a net exporter of agricultural products.

He added that, “With over 200 population, Nigeria is not supposed to be importing food items but exporting these materials.

“I believe that with the kind of exchange rate situation the country is facing, importation of food commodities is not the best option in long run.”

He said the kind of collaboration his firm was seeking was in the area of production of agricultural products, fisheries using advanced technology systems for production.

The national Coordinator of Nigeria – Israel Business Forum, Mrs. Florence Osuji, said the essence of the event was to create awareness on the existing opportunities in the business relations between Nigeria and Israel.

She noted that the event was also to promote the export of Nigeria’s non-oil products to the state of Israel.

“We at Forum observed that the trade between the two countries have been one-sided and that we have not been taking advantage of the trade relations to promote export of our products to the Middle East country.

“So, we came together to form the forum in order to create awareness and to promote our businesses in Israel. An area she said Nigeria can leverage on is the production and export of rice to Israel.

“We all know that Israel is a pilgrimage country, people go there from January to December every year and the common food the Pilgrims eat there is rice but the soil of Israel cannot produce rice. Nigeria has rice in large quantities and so why can’t we produce and export our rice to Israel to make money?”.