Mr Shimon Ben-Shoshan, Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, has underscored the need for more investment in agriculture technology, to promote faster growth in Nigeria’s agriculture sector.
Ben-Shoshan made the remark at a Journalists Roundtable on the Israeli/Nigeria relations organised by the Embassy of Israel in Abuja, on Thursday.
He said poor investment in the sector could hinder growth of the economy, while calling for prioritisation of agriculture technology to achieve desired goals.
“Agriculture technology is very important and most Nigerians miss out in the prospects inherent in it. I recommend agri-tech, it can help farmers to do better, just as water-tech, which is another issue globally.
“Nigeria is blessed with wide range of land and all you have to do is invest in agriculture.
“It is not enough to teach farmers, but teach the people,” Ben-Shoshan.
He also disclosed that the embassy had made necessary arrangement to commemorate the 71st independence anniversary of the state Israel on May 21, at the Transcorp Hotel in Abuja.
He said that the event would expose the culture of Israel to Nigerians with 18 talented world class song projects, to blend the Africa music with Israeli music.
Also speaking, Mr Nadav Goren, Deputy Chief of Mission of Israeli Embassy, urged Nigerians to learn from the art of turning challenges into opportunity from Israel to achieve targets.
“We are a country that is two-third agriculture driven; we do not have water, we are like northern part of Nigeria and we found a way to take that as advantage.
“We feed people and we use technology. We were at a point where there is no water, but look at where we are today. We are now among world leaders in agriculture technology.
“We are learning from the idea of turning challenges into opportunities. Also we started as a country which liked to protect its borders.’’
He noted that when that is achieved it would enable the country further turn challenges into opportunities in water-technology, medicine and entrepreneurship start-ups.
Goren added that Nigeria and Israel both share mutual cooperation.
The Beresheet was launched alongside Nusantara Satu on Falcon 9 booster that had already traveled into space for two separate missions.
