L
LequteMan
Guest
The Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina in Abuja on Sunday, has said that agriculture attracted private sector investment valued at eight billion dollars in the past two years.
He said that the huge investment was realised because of the positive impact of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda on agri-business in the country.
“You look at Dangote for example, put up nine billion dollars into a petrochemical plant and also fertiliser manufacturing plant; Indorama put in 1.3 million dollars into fertiliser manufacturing.
“Indorama put up 1.3 billion dollars in to fertiliser manufacturing company, Idonrama is an Idonesian company.
“Notore put up 1.5 billion dollars to expand its fertiliser manufacturing plant in Nigeria.
The minister said Syngenta, the world’s leading seeds production company, had established a company in Nigeria and hired 14 Nigerians as staff.
He quoted Michel Demare, the Global Chairman of Syngenta AG, a specialized chemicals company which markets seeds and pesticides, as saying: "the direction Nigeria is going makes me feel that the demand for seeds is going to rise in the country".
Adesina added that the best performing stocks in the Nigerian market today were agriculture-related stocks, which he said, ``perform better than banks``.
According to him, agriculture is now seen as a viable and profitable sector that creates a money trail that the banks can lend to.
He also said that through the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme, banks had begun to offer loans to farmers, seed companies, and agro-businesses “like never before”.
He said that the huge investment was realised because of the positive impact of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda on agri-business in the country.
“You look at Dangote for example, put up nine billion dollars into a petrochemical plant and also fertiliser manufacturing plant; Indorama put in 1.3 million dollars into fertiliser manufacturing.
“Indorama put up 1.3 billion dollars in to fertiliser manufacturing company, Idonrama is an Idonesian company.
“Notore put up 1.5 billion dollars to expand its fertiliser manufacturing plant in Nigeria.
The minister said Syngenta, the world’s leading seeds production company, had established a company in Nigeria and hired 14 Nigerians as staff.
He quoted Michel Demare, the Global Chairman of Syngenta AG, a specialized chemicals company which markets seeds and pesticides, as saying: "the direction Nigeria is going makes me feel that the demand for seeds is going to rise in the country".
Adesina added that the best performing stocks in the Nigerian market today were agriculture-related stocks, which he said, ``perform better than banks``.
According to him, agriculture is now seen as a viable and profitable sector that creates a money trail that the banks can lend to.
He also said that through the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme, banks had begun to offer loans to farmers, seed companies, and agro-businesses “like never before”.