A group, Good News Development Association (GNDA), is seeking partnership with the Federal Government towards sustained investment in agriculture; food security and nutrition to reduce poverty and hunger. The GNDA as a group seeks to promote transformation of small-holder agriculture into farming as a business that thrives.

Speaking at the unveiling of the GNDA’s cooperative society in conjunction with the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority (LSADA), tagged: ‘Potential in agriculture,’ the Chairman, Mr. Barnabas Anyanwu, said  that  government’s continued  investment in agriculture would improve small scale farmers’ productivity and income through value chain development and encouragement of farmers’ cooperative groups.

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Anyanwu further said: “We call on Nigerians to embrace agriculture because it has helped the country in the time past and that’s where this nation would go back again. Also, government needs to help in the provision of facilities to prevent food wastage in the country. Sometimes on transit, the agriculture produce get spoilt before getting to the destination. Government should come up with good policy that would help Nigerian farmers guarantee food security, so they would continue to invest in the sector. We hear fantastic plans of government for agriculture but the reality is that, it has not gotten to the farmers,” he further said.

Anyanwu noted that the group has acquired 31 acres of land for farming, processing and packaging of their agriculture produce. According to him, the plan is to have all enterprises in agriculture included in the process.

“We are creating a hub where, you get all produces of agriculture, starting from processing, packaging, and marketing. Even foreigners can walk into the centre and find any type of agriculture produces they need,” he said.

He commanded the Lagos State Agriculture Development Programme (LSADP), for guiding the group and support. “We have visited Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture, to find out, how they would support us financially,” he said.

Director, Technical Service, LSADA, Ms. Ola Olajumoke, advised the group to make a difference by going to organic farming, which would give them edge over others in the country.