Oyo State Government has expressed its readiness to partner Chinese investors in its bid to revolutionise the agricultural sector to generate employment as well as increase food productivity.

Governor Seyi Makinde made this known while receiving in audience the Chinese investors from China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Limited at the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan.

He assured the visiting team that his administration is ready to provide enabling environment.

The governor added that the state has a comparative advantage in agriculture and has also invested in enablers such as infrastructure and security, calling on the Chinese investors to partner with the state government to guarantee food security, boost agricultural productivity and make the state a hub for agro-industrial processing, which he noted, would generate thousands of employment opportunities and improve revenue drive.

Barrister Lawal said: “As a state government, it means that we can do business together. The infrastructural development that we have in place, settlements that can attract further agriculture development, and even our hospitable people around here, all of those are available to our investors.

“Any race or country that ignores the production of food to feed its citizens is in peril. So, that is why your coming and the area of competencies that you seem to be giving to us are very attractive.

“You are bringing technology to improve the value chain. We may be giving land, security, infrastructure as our contribution, if you so choose. It all depends on the model that you put on the table, which will be mutually beneficial to the two parties. But what is important, what you are priding, what you are selling, is agric-technology.

“What we have in Oyo State, as I have said, is land. So, if you are looking for land, in order for you to bring about the technology that you are bringing from China, we have it in large quantity in our state.

“The size of Oyo State is equal to the size of five states in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. In other words, if you do business with our state, it is like you are doing business with five states in Nigeria in terms of land mass.

“Fortunately, in our state, we have rainforest vegetation like we have in Ibadan around here. You have almost Sahel vegetation up North of our state. And, in between, you have another vegetation that can support all kinds of agric practices. So, it is not just cassava or rice. You can look at other opportunities that can support the kind of vegetation that we have in our state.

“Let me also say that the governor of Oyo State, if he travels out looking for investors, I think 90 per cent out of his journeys target investments in agribusiness and agriculture value chain.

“So, we stand ready in Oyo State to embrace whatever technology to improve our system, particularly agric system that we practise in our state to lift us from primary subsistence agricultural practices to industrial and commercial agric enterprises.

“Currently, we are establishing Agribusiness Hubs around the state. The first one is Fasola and I hope you will be there very shortly. Eruwa, if time permits, you will be there. And then recently, we have Ijaye. Actually, less than a month or about a month ago now, the President of African Development Bank was here in Oyo State to flag off the Ijaye Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone. That’s just about 30 kilometres away from this spot. So, all of these are geared towards a strong commitment to agricultural development in Oyo State.”

Also in his remarks, the Director General, Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency, Dr Debo Akande, appreciated the Chinese team’s vision and mission, which he noted, aligned with the state’s agriculture strategies.

The event also had in attendance the Commissioner for Trade, Industry, Investment and Cooperatives, Hon Adeniyi Adebisi; Director-General, Oyo State Investment Public-Private Partnership Agency, (OYSIPA), Mr Tilewa Folami; Permanent Secretaries from the two agencies present, Mr Adewale Bolarinwa and Alhaji Kolawole Badmus and the Assistant Director, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, South-West Zonal Office, Mr Samuel Ajewole, among others.

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