There is only one word to describe the planned collaboration between the government of the State of Osun and the German State of Saxony Anhalt to boost the state’s agriculture: heart-warming. Undoubtedly, it is an attestation to the fact that the painstaking work undertaken by the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration to attract not just investment, but expertise in critical areas of the state’s developmental needs, is finally bearing fruits. Viewed within the context of its declared commitment to improve agricultural practices and to boost food security, it is an important signal that the administration’s avowed mission to banish poverty from the state is well on course. 

Of course, it goes without saying that the state needs all the help it can get at this time to be able to optimise its potentials be it in agriculture, solid minerals or even in tourism.  As an ideas-driven administration, the present administration in the state has never left anyone in doubt about the important role of international agencies and development partners in the state’s development matrix.

We have seen the governor make several shuttles to meet with development partners as part of strategies to catalyse the many well-conceived initiatives to transform the state economy in record time.

A good example is the governor’s well-publicised visit to the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan. Indeed, there are presently on-going discussions between the state government and the elite institution on possible areas of cooperation to boost the state agriculture. Another notable example is the visit by the governor to the German State of Saxony Anhalt in May this year.

Both developments find meaning in the context of the governor’s singular commitment to attracting the best of technology to the hitherto moribund sector and to further his goal of optimising the state’s potentials.
The visit of the seven-man German expert team to the state is no doubt, an icing on his cake. It deserves to be recognised as the fruit of hard work and persistence for which the state government, most especially the governor, deserves commendation.

No doubt, the visit by the team could not have come at a better time than now when the state government is making frantic efforts to reposition the agricultural sector. To start with, there is a lot that our young farmers can benefit from the experts in modern farm techniques and management skills and ultimately in the area of the much needed transfer of technology. The state cannot wait to see the gains of the collaboration in the emergence of new generation of farmers in Osun –individuals who see farming both as a calling and as a business.

At the macro level, we expect the collaboration to assist in bridging the knowledge gaps in the state’s agro-business. The collaboration is no doubt, a critical step in the state’s quest to overhaul of the agriculture value chain as a strategy to guarantee sustainability.   

Finally, just as the point has been repeatedly made that a major bane of the nation’s development quest is the virtual absence of technical capacity by agencies of government charged with implementing well-meaning policies, we expect the benefits of the collaboration to extend to the area of capacity building for officials charged with policy implementation.
In other words, the support, discipline and commitment by officials are no less critical if the noble intentions behind the collaboration will ever come to fruition.
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