By Emmanuel Antswen
The Founder of Star Farmers Hub, Mr Michael Shenge, says that young agripreneurs, innovators and changemakers are the hope of profitable agricultural value chains in Benue.
Shenge, who stated this on Friday in Makurdi at the opening of Agro Start-ups Conference, said that the future of agriculture would not be built by governments alone, but by creative start-ups, partnerships, and bold ideas.
The conference convener described agripreneurs, innovators and all the partners as the missing link between farm and market, between policy and practice, and between potential and prosperity.
According to him, the youth have novel ideas to build on the old farming and marking practices to make agriculture a beautiful bride.
He stated that there was a need for the stakeholders to cross-fertilise ideas and work in synergy to achieve the desired goals.
“At Star Farmers Hub, we have seen what collaboration can do. When young people come together to solve problems in the agricultural value chain, transformation begins.
“The honey producer meets the package designer. The cassava processor meets the logistics start-up. The farmer meets the investor. And that is the kind of connection we want this conference to spark.
“Through this platform, we want to create pathways for certification, access to finance, government engagement, and value addition, because the future of our food system depends on how we nurture today’s agro start-ups.
“To the government, we are not here to complain; we are here to collaborate. We are building solutions on the ground; we simply need support, structure, and synergy.
“And to every young agripreneur here today, remember this: you don’t need to have it all to start; just start with what you have, where you are, and grow from there,” he advised.
Benue Agricultural Revolution Programme (BARP) Secretariat Lead, Mr Samuel Agwa, in his remarks, said there was a hurried need to innovate and positively affect the food system with every sense of common good environmental responsibility.
Agwa stated that from production to consumption, new and thriving businesses and innovations must fill up the holes so that optimal use of resources can be enhanced, from farming tools to technologies that respond to every aspect or chain in the food system process.
“BARP, as an elite think tank of Governor Hyacinth Alia, believes profoundly that start-ups in their numbers, if well-tailored, mentored and networked, can squarely respond to that future for greater prosperity of Benue and Nigeria at large and even beyond.
“BARP sees start-ups as real front-runners to a secure food future if hurdles like policy, financing and enabling the right ecosystems are plotted in an all-encompassing manner that matches innovation with action.
“Surely with the conversations expected at this conference, BARP believes a common ground that will sustain the issues of mentorship, innovation-hubbing, off-taking, ideation, funding, etc., will be given informed directions.
“Our expectation from this conference is a well-spelt broadsheet that pursues to gear up startups in a supportable manner with clear suggestions for having a special funding pool with clear mechanisms for scaling up,” he added.
He lauded Star Farmers Hub for putting together the conference, which he described as impactful and transformative.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dr Teryima Iorlamen of Joseph Sarwuan Tarkaa University Makurdi facilitated the training.
Iorlamen guided the stakeholders to develop a communique in which they resolved to promote synergy among stakeholders in the agricultural value chain. (NAN
