Expo to Showcase Investment in Nigeria’s Potato Value Chain

Gilbert Ekugbe

The Organisers of the international potato value chain and root crops expo and conference, ABG Paulas Resources Limited, which is scheduled to hold on the 14th to 16th September, 2021, in Jos, Plateau State, is set to showcase investment opportunities in Nigeria’s potato value chain.

Indeed, the expo is apt coming at a time when agri-food systems are failing as many nations are seeking ways to develop solutions to drive their agricultural value chains.

According to the organisers, potato is the third most consumed food crop globally coming after rice and wheat, consumed by a billion people worldwide, saying that the expo would be the first international potato value chain expo in Nigeria.
Nigeria remained the fourth-largest producer of potato in Sub-Saharan Africa and the seventh-largest producer in Africa.

The Executive Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Simon Lalong, has appointed the Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Sonni Gwanle Tyoden, to oversee the hosting of the International Potato Value Chain and Root Crops Expo and Conference that would be held in Jos, the state’s capital.

Lalong said that the expo is in line with the objectives of the agriculture policy of the State.

Lalong stated this when a team from the ABG Paulas Resources Limited team that was led by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ambrose Okojie, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House in Rayfield, Jos, which was used to officially decorate him and Tyoden as chief ambassadors of the expo.

He said the event is scheduled to open up investment opportunities, create jobs for stakeholders and facilitate increased production as well as food and nutrition security, adding that the event has got the participation of Grimme and Pottinger, German and Austrian based companies respectively and others to promote all varieties of potato and root crops production, processing, preservation, packaging and promotion in Plateau State and Nigeria in general towards meeting global best standards and quality.

Similarly, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has declared support to partner the organisers to deliver the international conference on potato value chain and other root crops.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono in a letter dated April 30, 2021, validated the conference and exhibition, describing it as an event that would open up investment opportunities create jobs for stakeholders and facilitate increased production as well as food and nutrition security.

The Minister is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the event, which would be attended by a wide spectrum of stakeholders in the root crops value chain.

Confirmed speakers for this expo are the Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr. Aliyu Abdulahammed; the Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Mr. Garba Sharubutu; the Chief Executive Officer of Farmforte, Mr. Osazuwa Osayi and Member Board of Directors, Inova Capital Ag, Switzerland, Prince Henry Erimodafe, among others.

Participants at the expo are expected to define a pragmatic and achievable roadmap for the full development of the multi-billion dollars value chain, yet to be tapped by the private sector.