Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, on Friday urged the D-8, a group of developing countries, to increase investment in research, seed and fertiliser industry.
The minister, who made the call at the meeting of D-8 Agriculture Ministers in Abuja, said that such investment will aid efforts to boost food security in the member countries.
The D-8 member countries are Nigeria, Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan.
“Raising agricultural productivity is central to the achievement of the goal of food security within the D-8; this will require investments in research and development, as well as reforms of our research institutions to become more efficient.
“There is need to significantly raise the level of investment in the seed industry; this must include expansion of private sector investments.
“Given the vast supplies of natural gas within D-8 countries, there should be accelerated cooperation in promoting joint investments in fertiliser manufacturing, tapping into the large deposits of natural gas and phosphates within our countries,’’ he said.
Adesina, who is the 2013 Forbes Africa Man of the Year, also proposed the establishment of D-8 Halal Meat Commission to drive the development of technical capacity, investments, certification, market and trade development in the Halal meat industry.
The minister noted that the Halal meat market accounted for 16 per cent of global trade in meats, adding that the industry was growing at the rate of over 4 per cent annually.
He stressed that the value of the industry was estimated to have grown from 625 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 to 2 trillion dollars in 2013.
“There is need for the D-8 to launch a major initiative around the Halal-meat industry development to take a major share of this rapidly growing industry,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Mr Seyed Mousavi, the Secretary-General of the D-8 Organisation for Economic Corporations, stressed the need to address issues relating to the instability in agriculture commodity prices.
Mousavi said that necessary steps ought to be taken to enhance greater market transparency and timely statistics on food commodity market.
“You would concur with me that given the importance of international food commodity markets for global food security and hunger reduction efforts; there is need to address the issue of governance in the agricultural market.
“This is with a view to confronting the problem of agricultural commodity price volatility in D-8 member countries.
“The necessary steps would include improved regulation of market, greater market transparency, improved and timely statistics on food commodity market and employment opportunities; these would facilitate equitable economic growth,’’ he said.
Mousavi said that when these steps were combined with social protection and other measures, which increased the incomes of the poor families to buy food, they would spur rural development in member states.
The highlights of the event include a visit to the exhibition centre where member states displayed their various agricultural produce.
*This article was published by BusinessDayOnline.com. Read the original article here.