EU launches digital platform to boost Nigeria’s agribusiness

The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS has launched the EU-Nigeria Agribusiness Platform aimed at increasing private investments in the country’s agribusiness sector.

The launch was held Tuesday in Abuja at the ninth Nigeria-EU Business Forum 2024.

The platform will facilitate digital marketing, trading and investment for commercial and other cooperations between Nigerian and European Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the agro-food system and agro-industry.

The platform’s primary focus is to create linkages and interactions between Nigeria and EU agribusiness stakeholders, especially among SMEs; and promote trade and investment between both sides.

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The Deputy Director General of the Directorate of International Partnerships (INTPA), European Commission,  Myriam Ferran, said the idea for an agribusiness platform stemmed from the commitments of the November 2020 EU-Nigeria Ministerial Dialogue.

She said after consultation with the government of Nigeria, it was decided to launch the EU-Nigeria Agribusiness Platform as a structured dialogue between Nigerian and EU farming and agri-food communities, agricultural and agro-industrial sectors to promote trade and attract responsible investments and to foster business linkages, particularly for SMEs.

The founder of the Agribusiness Register Limited, Mr Roland Oletu Oroh, while speaking during the event, said that the volume of EU-Nigeria trade stood at €24.6bn in 2023, 18.7 per cent lower than 2022.

He said that the EU remained Nigeria’s biggest trading partner, first investor, top donor of humanitarian and development aids and the biggest diplomatic network.

The Agribusiness Register Limited, a private sector entity conversant with the agribusiness ecosystem, will manage the EU-Nigeria Agribusiness Platform. The idea of handing over the platform to a private sector-led entity working in partnership with public and private sector stakeholders came about during a stakeholders’ consultative meeting in April, 2023.

The Agribusiness Register Limited, owners and managers of the Nigeria Agribusiness Register, will work with and engage with selected agribusinesses, farmer groups, aggregators and other critical stakeholders.