By Uwumarogie Peter
Abuja – The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, says the implementation of Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) Report 2017 would improve the nation’s agribusiness reforms.
The minister said this on Tuesday in Abuja at a workshop organised by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), in partnership with World Bank.
Ogbeh, who was represented by Mr Ukata Benard, Deputy Director in the ministry, said that the aim of the workshop was to promote efficient regulatory processes that would facilitate the growth of agribusinesses in the country.
According to him, EBA encourages regulations that ensure safety and facilitate the provision of quality of agricultural inputs, goods and services which may have been deemed too costly or burdensome.
The minister said that the report would be of great importance to all stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
“EBA 2017 report offered insights into how laws and regulations affect private sector development for agribusinesses, including producers, organisations and other agricultural entrepreneurs.
“This is of great relevance to our economy; to stakeholders, development partners, the private sector, the civil society, governments and farmers.
“The analysis of data on laws and regulations collected by EBA yielded important results such as EBA country data.
“The EBA country data have been used to open dialogues on regulatory reforms with governments across several countries in Sub-Sahara Africa and East Asia.
“The globally comparable data which EBA presents will and can definitely inform policy dialogue and reforms, which will promote private sector investments in the agricultural sector’’ he said.
On his part, Mr Kabiru Ibrahim, National President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), assured the organisers of the workshop that its recommendations would be adopted to boost the agricultural activities of farmers.
NAN reports that EBA, which started in 2013, has the responsibility of collecting data on laws and regulations that influence the business environment for agriculture.
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