Oyo State is set to benefit from a partnership with the United Kingdom Agritech Centre aimed at boosting agriculture and livestock production using technology-based solutions.
According to Debo Akande, Executive Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Agribusiness, “Agriculture has become technology-driven, and we have a lot of young people that have the same capability to produce this but that know-how may not be there. This project is going to provide that opportunity and resources for them to be able to do it.”
The partnership will see the UK Agritech Centre build an Agritech Hub within one of Oyo State’s Agribusiness Industrial Hubs. Mark Smithson, Director of the UK Department of Business and Trades in Nigeria, explained that the UK Agritech Centre brings “science and technology-based solutions, which will hopefully help in enhancing productivity in agriculture.”
Akande emphasised that the project will increase productivity and production for livestock within the state. “We are hoping that this will help us to be able to build what we call ‘Agritech Hub’ within one of our industrial hubs in Oyo State. And this is going to revolutionise agriculture,” he said.
Smithson noted that the partnership is part of a broader investment partnership between the UK and Nigeria, signed in February 2024. “We are here today to talk with His Excellency, the Governor and the stakeholders in the state about the opportunities to bring UK and Nigeria into collaboration in the field of agriculture,”
he said.
