Prominent Mbaise Citizens Propose New Agriculture Strategies to Rebuild Mbaise Economy At MPR Forum Discussion
Owerri Imo State/New York, USA, May 4, 2021: The Mbaise Policy Roundtable (MPR), a non-governmental organization with offices in Owerri Imo State, Nigeria and New York, USA, recently held an open forum discussion on the genesis of the current deplorable socio-economic situation in Mbaise and the viability of an Agriculture strategy in resurging and revitalizing her.
According to a recent statement by the organization, the enthronement of greed and a warped value system may be contributary factors. It said, ” Our insatiable drive for personal wealth jettisioned our shared prosperity or common wealth economic doctrine. Even as we accumulated more personal wealth than our forebears can only dream about, like prodigal children we have been unable to add to or maintain the gorgeous “estates” they bequeathed us. The question is, “how do we retrace our steps to an Agro based economic resurgence?” In this regard a good number of experts, interested parties and concerned citizens shared their views.
Mr Frank Nneji, a former Imo State gubernatorial aspirant and founder of ABC Transport, weighed in with a recommendation of boosting modern agriculture as the elixir for Mbaise ailing economy and joblessness. He said, “…we need to distinguish between the subsistence agriculture which our parents practiced and modern commercial agriculture. Commercial agriculture is usually a major investment in which we would consider risks and returns. Agricultural investments however offer good opportunity in creating many jobs. I will therefore advice that members of this forum consider doing some studies back home focused on identifying suitable agricultural investments bearing in mind that we have limited land space, not just in Mbaise but in Imo State generally. It’s time we started funding investments as against consumption back home”
Aligning with Mr. Nneji on the need for agriculture investment, Dr. Chika Okoro, a World Health Organization (WHO) staff in Imo State said that, ”We have the resources to start mechanized agriculture in Mbaise. If we do not have enough lands in Mbaise, we can acquire lands from other areas and engage in serious agriculture and feed our people. In this era of crowd funding, we can come together and crowd fund agriculture in Mbaise. We have the expertise in Mbaise to do this. Everyone doesn’t have to be involved in managing it but everyone can be involved in funding it. As always, I will be willing to get involved.”
Prince Victor Mbalewe, former Imo State Senior Special Adviser for Agriculture, in his contribution urged the building of “synergy through investing in Clusters, Cooperatives, and other group models.” He further recommended, “Let every man, every woman develop interest in just one agricultural commodity, learn it, nurture it, till it becomes a passion, with some commercial value. By integrating appropriate technologies and exerting reasonable control over such investment, we would gradually and sustainably transform our rural Mbaise landscape and its economy.”
The youths are a major constituency for the MPR Agriculture strategy for Mbaise, and were again in focus. Mr Solomon Abiakalam, a major player in the finance industry, addressed the vexing issue of diminished participation of youths in Agriculture. He said, agriculture could be made more fun and less cumbersome in order to attract and hold the participation of youths. He proposed incorporating into the strategy, “A simple app that enables sourcing or aggregation of products, raising of capital, finding markets or buyers, smart fertilizing, hubbing, etc can make a world of difference. Modernizing Agriculture, through smart farming, may be the only way to sell it to today’s youth. We can also consider that, especially as fintechs seem to be the most attractive buzz in Nigeria today”
Mr Longinus Obasi, an author observed that trees have vanished from our landscape and proffered tree planting solution. He said that, “…we do not have land in Mbaise. According to Obasianahuanya, we have roads, streets and avenues we can restructure with trees like orange. For instance, from Eke Amuzi to Nkwogwu we can plant on both sides of the road orange trees. From Itu to Ibeku we can plant Palm trees etc.”
On how Mbaise got to the recent economic prostrate position, Sir Nick Nwuda, a partner with a global asset management group, captured the sentiments of most contributors, when he said, “Our forefathers though illiterates had sense of community. They believed in “Igwe bu Ike”. The first few people that went overseas for further education was sponsored through village efforts, by ikuchi nkwu…. Today there are more rich and educated people in every village in Mbaise yet every village is still very poor, and more people go to bed hungry..”
Other contributors to the discussion were MPR Executive Secretary/legal adviser Atty Paschal Ukpabi and Deputy Secretary Mr. Rowland Obom and Mr Patrick Keke.
In response to an inquiry, the Chairman of MPR, Professor Eddie Oparaoji said, “The palpable passion expressed at this forum discussion may have justified our decision to collaborate with the CSS Group of Companies, one of the largest mechanized Agribusiness in Africa, majoring in Agriculture, food processing and packaging, construction, aviation and renewable energy, to revive and surpass all time contributions of Agriculture to the economic development of Mbaise.
It is our goal to remake Mbaise into the food basket of Imo State, using knowledge of modern Agriculture science, innovations, techniques and business. In support of this goal, preliminary understanding has been reached for the CSS Group to;
1. Train free of charge 20 out of the strategically required 100 Mbaise youths, in modern Agriculture techniques and business, as the foundational building blocks for this Agriculture rebuild strategy
2. Strengthen MPR and adopt it as an outlet for Corporate Social Responsibility in Mbaise,
3. Designate dedicated in-house navigators at CSS and locally at MPR to handle Agriculture development inquiries and consultations from Mbaise
4. Establish a customized Agriculture training center or institute in Mbaise,
5. Partner MPR in their ongoing establishment of an Agriculture University in Mbaise,
6. Establish a Food Reserve Center, Warehouse and distribution infrastructure in Mbaise
Professor Oparaoji further revealed that, “these are not abstract initiatives, most are already at different implementation stages, and will need all hands on deck. As proposed during the forum discussion, with some bold ideas, risks and sacrifices, Mbaise has more than more than enough to resurge into an Agrobased economic powerhouse.”
MPR is the premier pre-eminent Mbaise Public Policy and Business Advisory Council in the World, focused entirely on the development of Mbaise and Imo State, through the facilitation of financial and in-kind resources, private investments and private public partnerships.
MPR 