A group of investors under the auspices of Agro-industrial Settlements Developers Association of Nigeria (ASDAN), have concluded plans to provide agribusiness settlements that will boost food production and job creation.
This was disclosed the National Chairman, ASDAN, Architect Rockson Essien, at the annual general meeting of ASDAN, which he said the association was concerned with providing standard agribusiness centres that will attract other investors and youth into the sector by providing basic infrastructure.
He said: The Agro-industrial Settlements Developers Association of Nigeria, ASDAN, is a group of over 350 corporate professionals that will re-engineer the environment for commercial and sustenance practices simultaneously. Ours is to create the enabling environment for more investors in agriculture.
“Hitherto, before this time it was the sustenance kind of agriculture, our dream is to re-engine the unplanned land and create opportunities for commercial farmers and sustenance farmers to work hand-in-hand. There are private business men who will invest in agriculture if given the opportunity.
“ASDAN is vested with the promotion of provision of services and serviced plots of land for the development of commercial and sustenance agriculture, industry and ancillary facilities for the 21st century communities of Agro-Industrial Parks, Estates, Settlements and Towns (APESTS) projects in the 36 States of Nigeria and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The APEST projects are eco-friendly, generational, revolutionary, based on indigenous materials, international technologies, adaptive technologies, human capitalism and quadratite collaboration of government, investors and our development partners.”
According to him will facilitate identification of local and foreign funds available that could be used for the development of agro-industrial sector of Nigeria economy.
Identification of vast fallow arable lands and mining zone respectively for agriculture and mining operations in Nigeria, ensuring that legitimate agriculturists have success to serviced plots of land to enhance comprehensive monitoring, regulating of input supplies and funds in commercial and sustenance agricultural and industrial operations.
Also identification of foreign large, medium and small scale investors desirous to collaborate in investments with indigenous commercialists, agriculturalists and industrialists in the agro-industrial ventures in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, chairman of the annual general meeting, AGM of ASDAN, Guy Okechukwu, said the agro-industrial settlements will be venue for employment of the teeming youth, and for food exportation as done in other African countries.
“The idea is we can have agro-allied settlements in all areas of Nigeria so that amongst other things we are creating jobs and we are going to have a lot of food, in-built things coming out of these settlements.
“The settlements will do two major things, create jobs for Nigerians and produce agricultural food. The government is to look at that. As we have started there is no government intervention but we believe in the future”, Okechukwu stated.