Jos To Host First International Potato Value Chain Expo

The first International Potato Value Chain and other root crops summit and expo is scheduled to take place in Jos, Plateau State on Thursday, November 18, 2021, at Crispan Hotel and Event Centre, Rayfield, Jos.

A statement by the MD/CEO of International Potato Value-Chain and Root Crops Conference and Exhibition, Ambrose Okojie, said the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, is the chief host, while the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, will deliver the keynote address of the event.

Okojie also stated that a wide spectrum of stakeholders in the root crops value chain, including farmers from Plateau State are attending the programme.

The Presidency had on September 23, 2021, threw its weight behind the staging of the expo.

According to the statement, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, gave this validation when he received the organisers of the expo in his office in Abuja, adding that he was also decorated as a chief ambassador of the programme.

Promising to physically attend the event, the statement quoted Mustapha to have said that the idea of the expo is novel and in tandem with the objectives of the federal government’s desire to diversify the economy and attract Direct Foreign Investment through agriculture.

The event was earlier scheduled to hold September 14 to 16, 2021, but was shifted to November 18, due to the sudden crises in Jos.

The statement also quoted the SGF, speaking through the Permanent Secretary in the office of the SGF on Political and Economy, Andrew David Adejo, as saying: “The federal government will support the expo because it is in line with the economic diversification of Nigeria’s economy.”

According to the organisers of the event, ABG Paulas Resources Limited, some of the confirmed speakers are the Managing Director of NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulahammed; the Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Prof. Garba Sharubutu; and member Board of Directors, Inova Capital Ag, Switzerland, Prince Henry Erimodafe, it said.

Others expected at the event are the General Manager Grimme, Germany, Frank Noddmann, Ulf Zell, a German International Management Consultant, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany, Ambassador Tuggar, Dr. Franz-Georg Von Busse, Company Rep Pottinger, Austria, and the Chief Executive officer and Managing Director of Riela, Prof. Karl-Heinz Knoop.