From Abdullahi Idris,Dutse
Jigawa State has formalised collaboration with regional agricultural institutions to establish the Jigawa State Agricultural Transformation Agency.
This was announced on Monday when Governor Umar Namadi hosted the Executive Director of African Agricultural Transformation Initiative, AATI, Ms Safia Boly, and the Managing Director of the Development Sovereign Group, Dr Khalid Bomba, to a meeting held to advance the initiative.
In her address, Ms Boly commended Governor Namadi for his visionary leadership and dedication to agricultural transformation in Jigawa State.
“We are not only very pleased to be part of your agricultural journey, which we support you in; we would also like to reiterate how you continue to earn our support. We had a very good engagement in June last year which you facilitated in terms of understanding the priorities for the state and how we could organise not only various partnerships, but also support that we could provide for that journey.
“Following that visit, you surprised us with your presence and honoured us during the event in Kigali, the Africa Food Systems Summit, where we had the pleasure not only of hearing more about your political will and your strive towards transformation in Jigawa State, but also you advised us as we were launching the agricultural transformation office in Sierra Leone.
“We are thrilled to continue with the learning journey and support your drive for agricultural transformation,” Boly said.
She emphasised AATI’s commitment to support Jigawa’s agricultural agenda, pledging to bring proven advisory services and expertise to drive impactful results.
Also, Bomba expressed excitement about the collaboration, drawing parallels between Jigawa’s current ambitions and Ethiopia’s journey 15 years ago.
Speaking, Governor Namadi expressed gratitude for the partnership, highlighting the significance of the visit as a follow-up to earlier engagements.
“It is really a delight for us in Jigawa State to receive the executive director and the managing director, which is an honor to us. This meeting serves as a follow-up to our previous meeting in Kigali. This has shown the interest that AATI has in assisting African countries transform their agricultural systems,” he said.
The collaboration, which is supposed to last between three to four years, seeks to leverage the expertise of the African Agricultural Transformation Initiative and the Development Sovereign Group to implement practical and sustainable agricultural reforms in Jigawa.
The to-be-established Jigawa State Agricultural Transformation Agency will focus on improving productivity, fostering innovation and creating economic opportunities across the agricultural value chain.
