German foundation commits €5m to agriculture intervention in Nigeria
Some participants at AFOS Foundation first stakeholders roundtable held in Lagos
By Kadiri Abdulrahman
The AFOS Foundation, a Germany-based autonomous and charitable organisation, says it is investing about 5.5 million euros as Intervention in Nigeria’s agriculture sector.
The Chief Executive Officer and Country Representative of the foundation, Mr Oladipupo Akoni, said this in a statement on Monday.
He was speaking at the first stakeholders roundtable in Lagos.
According to Akoni, the foundation was developed to support micro and small businesses and the rising middle class in developing and emerging nations.
“AFOS foundation has invested heavily towards development of the sector through capacity building, value-driven organisational development, management development, corporate governance, and product development interventions.
“It is strengthening the Nigeria agricultural sector by improving the performance of smallholder farmers, agricultural companies, microfinance banks, as well as their networking across the sector’s value chains.
“Since the commencement of its agricultural project activities in Nigeria in 2017, AFOS Foundation has reached over 45,000 smallholder farmers in Nigeria with the resultant positive impact on their skills, productivity and earned incomes.
“We target to reach 60,000 smallholder farmers by the end of 2024,” he said.
He said that to consolidate on its achievements in Nigeria projects were now focusing on improved agricultural practices for smallholder farmers.
“We are also focusing on institutionalised dual vocational training systems, value-based management training, and development of an agricultural training centre.
“These are in addition to micro-insurance product development, agric finance training and sensitisation for the microfinance sub-sector, ” he said.
He said that the projects would be of immense benefit to the country’s agriculture sector.
“The ongoing project will have tremendous impact on the Nigerian agricultural sector by addressing its skills and development challenges.
“It will also address capacity replacement, especially in this era of massive emigration,“ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that AFOS Foundation is a charitable foundation developed to support micro and small businesses and the rising middle class in developing and emerging nations, is strengthening the Nigerian agricultural sector by improving the performance of small farmers, agricultural companies, microfinance banks (MfBs), as well as their networking across the sector’s value chains. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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Edited by Maureen Ojinaka/Isaac Aregbesola
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