• Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • Staff Email
Thursday, August 28, 2025
  • Login
TheMattersPress
  • Home
  • News
  • Features
  • Thematterspress
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Photo
    • Video
  • About us
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Features
  • Thematterspress
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Photo
    • Video
  • About us
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
TheMattersPress
No Result
View All Result
Home Economy/Technology

Heavy investment in agriculture can curb poverty – Expert

Agriculture

The Matters Press by The Matters Press
March 11, 2023
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Vulnerable Nigerian farmers to get $1m grant

Dr Abdoulaye Zonon, Coordinator, ECOWAS Community Development programme, has said that increase in agricultural investment would solve problem of poverty and vulnerability challenges on the continent.

RELATED POSTS

‎TMSG welcomes halt in oil theft on pipelines taking crude to export terminals

‎Group dismisses Obasanjo’s labelling of Tinubu’s administration as inefficient

Tinubu succeeding where Obasanjo failed woefully, says TMSG

Zonon spoke on Friday at a Pre-Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development High-Level Dialogue (Pre-COM 2023 Dialogue) which was held virtually.

The webinar was organised by the Economic Commission for Africa Sub-region for West Africa (ECA/SRO-WA) to deliberate on Africa’s challenges and opportunities.

The coordinator said: “For me, if we want to find quick wins in poverty and vulnerability, the key will be to develop agriculture.

“ If we multiply agricultural productivity by two, we can reduce poverty by 20 to 25 per cent. And so, who are the farmers on the continent? ”

According to Zonon, most farms on the continent are family and smallholder farms, with very low productivity or low yield of about 1.5 tonnes per hectare, whereas the others are producing way more.

He noted that only about 10 kilos per hectare of fertilizer were being used on the continent, whereas, in the global average, it’s about 125, which he said was a major disparity.

He said that the community had the declaration where countries committed to investing 10 per cent of their national budget in agriculture.

“We also have the Abuja Declaration on fertilizer, where member states said they will move up to 50 kilos per hectare by 2015.

“Whereas the countries are still at an average of about 10 kilos per hectare. Therefore this the people that we need to help.

“Unfortunately, the vulnerability affects them heavily because they are in an economic activity where climate has an impact, we have plants and animals dying, and there is the risk of conflict,’’ he said.

According to Zonon, we do not have social nets to protect them; therefore, we need a serious solid agricultural policy, we are not investing enough in agriculture.

On finance, the official said that different studies had shown that only three per cent of Bank loans were accorded to agriculture.

He stated that agriculture contributed 20 to 45 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most countries, saying that a lot needs to be done to transform agriculture.

Zonon, however, expressed the need to come up with a policy to correct the situation, regretting that currently, the agricultural policy has not yet given the expected results in spite of the many initiatives.

“ But beyond agriculture, we also need to develop social net and social protection mechanisms to ensure that we have human beings at the heart of these policies,” he said.

Meanwhile, Miss Rachelle Djangone, Country Representative, UN Women in Niger, stated that the poverty rate among women, which was two per cent before COVID-19, had increased beyond five per cent.

Djangone said a conscious effort should be made to transform our economy sustainably and reduce poverty, especially among women and children.

“We need to invest more in education, health and decent work, and this will be able to translate into economic and demographic dividends.

“We need to create employment and investment opportunities to the poorest communities, ensure access to bank loans and promote climate-smart agriculture, among others, to transform our economy, ” she said.

Tags: Agriculture
ShareTweetPin
The Matters Press

The Matters Press

Related Posts

Nigeria regains top crude oil production spot in Africa
Energy

‎TMSG welcomes halt in oil theft on pipelines taking crude to export terminals

August 28, 2025
Who is lying, Obasanjo or NAN?
News

‎Group dismisses Obasanjo’s labelling of Tinubu’s administration as inefficient

August 28, 2025
Obasanjo campaigns for AfCFTA
News

Tinubu succeeding where Obasanjo failed woefully, says TMSG

August 28, 2025
Tinubu explains mission as he marks second year in office
Economy/Technology

‎Tinubu in fresh ideas to grassroots-development using 8,809 wards initiative – TMSG ‎

August 9, 2025
Obi, PDP candidate advises Buhari to increase tempo
Economy/Technology

‎Obi’s One-Term Proposal, a gambit to grab power at all costs -Group ‎

August 7, 2025
Importers face delays, higher costs on Red Sea woes
Economy/Technology

National Single Window initiative, a major step for efficient cross-border trade – TMSG

August 4, 2025
Next Post
“Naira-4-Dollar” getting results

Naira ends week on negative note

Nigeria gets AfDB’s $14m as member of ATI

AfDB inaugurates $5.9m project to stem illicit financial flows

Recommended Stories

Fraud in banking sector, mostly insider instigated

Customers use other payment providers due to poor bank networks

February 22, 2023
Nigeria regains top crude oil production spot in Africa

Equatorial Guinea, oil and gas investment hub in Central Africa

July 7, 2023
Council seeks incentives to boost indigenous ship operations

10 ships with petrol berth at Lagos ports

March 23, 2022

Popular Stories

  • Rising prices of goods cause protests in Morocco

    Rising prices of goods cause protests in Morocco

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • NLNG not responsible for gas supply shortfall, price hike

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • NCC sets fresh operational fees, spectrum prices for telecom operators

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Hoarding causes hike in prices of grains

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Prices of Petrol, diesel increase in November

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
TheMattersPress

We bring you the best news update in Nigeria

LEARN MORE »

Recent Posts

  • ‎TMSG welcomes halt in oil theft on pipelines taking crude to export terminals
  • ‎Group dismisses Obasanjo’s labelling of Tinubu’s administration as inefficient
  • Tinubu succeeding where Obasanjo failed woefully, says TMSG

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Economy/Technology
  • Energy
  • Entertainment/sports
  • Features
  • Foreign
  • Multimedia
  • Natural Resources
  • News
  • Oil and Gas
  • Photo
  • Politics
  • Security
  • Thematterspress
  • Uncategorized
  • Video

© 2025 Domo Tech World - Powered by Thematterspress.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Features
  • Thematterspress
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Photo
    • Video
  • About us
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Domo Tech World - Powered by Thematterspress.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Call Us