South Africa firm seeks collaboration with C/River in agriculture
The Cross River government has expressed its desire to partner a South African firm, AgriSA to boost food and livestock production and enhance a value chain.
Governor Ben Ayade disclosed this when he received a team of investors from a South African farming association AgriSA and its pan African partner, Agri All Africa team led by its chief executive officer, Rev. Okey Oyemachi in his office in Calabar.
Ayade who pointed out that Cross River was the best and safe place to invest due to its favourable and unique climatic, geographical and topographical nature, also said the state guarantees stability of investments as “we pride ourselves as a small nation within a nation because of our panache and elegance.”
He said the state government was ready to partner investors in agriculture especially in the areas of rice, banana and poultry farming. He disclosed that the blueprint for the agro sector in the state has been mapped with soil studies done, even as he hoped that the state will control a major share in rice production and distribution by next year.
The governor said agro investors “will be dealing with a positive soil as Cross River State provides you the right soil for export farming,” adding that fertilization and irrigation will not be a challenge due to the natural soil and freshwater course with a seaport to ensure access to markets.
Earlier, Oyemachi said they were in the state to inform the government about its operations in Nigeria and to relay their intent to explore the state to find out the right type of crops and livestock to invest in.
He said his team has been watching the governor and found him as someone who is not only “straightforward, honest but one who is in a hurry and hungry to deliver,” and expressed readiness to move in as soon as approvals were obtained.
Oyemachi also called for the mechanization of the agro processes, as according to him, it is only when such was in place that progress could be made in agro processing.
On areas of partnership, Oyemachi listed Rice, Poultry, Maize, Irrigation and sugarcane as the core areas of interest with a mentorship program for small scale farmers.
Similarly, Governor Ayade has solicited the support of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NISA) for his administration’s signature projects.
Ayade made the call during an interactive session with a team from the agency, led by the Managing Director, Uche Orji in his office in Calabar.
The governor stressed that the projects, especially the 260 kilometres superhighway speak for themselves as the current economic demographics of the state show the road as a necessity and a secured investment as a result of its outlay as a necessary infrastructure.
“Cross River State has the highest number of tank farms and with the number of trucks coming in to transport oil, cement and aggregates, you will get the picture and see that it is a project that guarantees returns to the investors,” Ayade said, pointing out that the construction was ongoing.
He called on the NSIA to invest in the superhighway, urging them to bring in the expertise to run it without having to give funds to the state, stressing that to will demonstrate the level of sincerity.
Earlier, Uche explained the role NSIA plays and highlighted the three aspects of the funding it provides to include the stabilization fund which takes 20 percent of the sovereign fund, the future generation fund and infrastructure fund which gulps 40 percent respectively.
Disclosing that the NSIA is jointly owned by the federal, states and local governments, Uche said Cross River can key into the road tolling programme which he cited the Lagos Ibadan expressway as an example.
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