Salon de l’agriculture 2020 – Looking Beyond the Business Mission

The Salon de l’Agiculture 2020 serves as the 57th edition and attracted over 700,000 delegates globally. The International Agricultural Show chose “Agriculture welcomes you with open arms' ' as this year's theme to draw attention to areas of great potential and collaboration in the sector with respect to international partnerships.

Nigerian representatives from both private and public sector were duly present. With over 50 delegates spread across 7 States such as Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Benue, Abia, Rivers and Kwara, engagements were targeted at the areas of concentration for the salon such as Livestock breeding; Crop and plants sector; Products from regions across France as well as its overseas territories and the rest of the world; Agricultural services. Among Nigerian State Governors present were Governor Seyi Makinde (Oyo State), Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq (Kwara State) and Governor Samuel Loraer Ortom (Benue State).

The engagements for the Nigerian delegates started with a general tour across the various pavilions and exhibitions. The delegate were also treated to a beautiful show that showcased various breeds of the French livestock.

I was honored to take some of the Nigerian State delegates round the exhibition areas to inspect the French animal husbandry where we saw pigs that measured the size of our big sized cows back in Nigeria. It was also quite dumbfounding to see that while an average cow in Nigeria produce just about 1.5 to 2 litres of milk per day, a typical cow in France produces up to 30 litres daily and up to 6,800 litres annually. I could not help but wonder that if Northern Government Stakeholders would channel their effort appropriately, they could use the resources available to them to scale up innovations that helps them achieve optimum value from livestock rather than fight their South-Western counterparts (Governors) for endorsing the “Amotekun security outfit’. The world has moved beyond pastoral nomadism. Some Of our vices as a country answers to deeper levels of engagement with respect to economic innovation and not fruitless agitations.

Strategic B2B engagements were organized for the delegates with respect to their needs for partnerships in their various states. Some of these revolved around both technical and financial partnerships. Other aspects related to areas of importation and exportation. I was particularly elated to see how most French produce were protected by Geographical Indication which not only increases the value of the produce but also protects its ‘agricultural dna’. This is probably a bane for Nigeria where most of our produce suffers from meeting exportation standards. This is the concept that has promoted regions such as Bordeaux producing their famous Bordeaux wine and the Champagne Region producing the popular Champagne. You know how awkward it is when you talk about a champagne and say you need an “Italian Champagne” or “ Finnish Champagne”. Not like any of those readily exists but the framework even in the EU would not allow such exist as the Geographical Indication legally allows only the Champagne to be from the Champagne region in France. Imagine what this would do to the Nigerian economy if the government will label regions with their most potent produce (with the support of international technical partners) to keep the quality in production. This would revolutionize our entire agricultural landscape. It is not news that French stakeholders have replicated this same technical expertise in various countries across the world.

 Another hallmark of the engagements was a visit to the Rungis Market that sits on over 234 hectares of land making it the largest Market for fresh foods in the world. The market sections include: fish, meat, fruits & vegetables, dairy products and flowers. Over 12,000 people are directly employed and over 90,000 people have their jobs linked to the market. The Nigerian delegates were taken on a tour to understand the operations of this market which turns in about 9 billion euros revenue annually into the French economy. The meat session in the market alone generates 1.5 billion euros annually while the fruits and vegetables generates 3.5 billion euros annually.

The entire mission ended with a courtesy visit to the Embassy of Nigeria hosted by Her Excellency, Dr. Modupe Irele(Ambassador of Nigeria to France).

As we speak, the States and Private Sector have begun internal consultation on major follow-ups to the mission to begin concretizing the dealings from the interactions.

I must thank Sonia Darracq (Regional Agriculture Counsellor) representing the French Ministry of Agriculture as well as the French Embassy in Nigeria for their great work in ensuring that Nigeria leverages on available partnerships to reach its Agricultural potential. May I also thank organizations such as ADEPTA and Business France for the support in making the mission a reality and a success.

Wisdom calls for change and there is no better change to adopt than a new posture to strategic partnership to catalyze a country’s resident potential for socio-economic transformation that leads to sustainable development. It was a privilege to have worked with all stakeholders and I am excited at the expected outcomes resulting from these engagements in the Nigerian landscape in both short and long-term.