Ayodele Olalere
Consulate-General of Brazil, in Lagos State, Mr. Francisco Luiz, has urged the Federal Government to invest massively in agriculture, increase productivity in the farm as well as promote research in the agricultural sector in order to have a sustainable economy.
He spoke at the Brazil Nigeria Business Forum Lagos 2022, themed, ‘Paying the way for a brighter Future’, in commemoration of the Bi Centurion (200 Years) anniversary of Brazilian Independence celebration by the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos.
Luz said if business communities are not brought together, there won’t be more businesses as the society would only be left with the established businesses and that would not lead to prosperity for the people.
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He said that the summit has to happen every year as it has not hold for the past 10 years.
According to him, “Brazil and Nigeria are the biggest and the most populous countries in their respective regions. We are economic leaders in our region. This event has to happen every year. It hasn’t happened in over ten years. If we don’t bring our business communities together, it’s only the business that has already been established that will continue, we won’t have any new business. I hope from here, we’re going to follow up on a trade mission to Brazil.”
When asked what Brazil did right that Nigeria can emulate from so as to get her economy back on the pedestal, the consul general said that the first thing that Brazil did right was the “Green revolution” after the second oil shock in 1982.
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He said, “We decided that we should be sustainable in agriculture, we invest in agriculture, we increase productivity in the farm, we invest massively in agricultural research, I think Nigeria could do the same and take advantage of our experience as the weather is the same, the soil texture is the same and the general condition are the same and our equipment are easier to operate in tropical area than anywhere else which will be suitable for the Nigerian farmers and the rest,”
He added: “Secondly, we manage to stabilize the economy, we stabilize the currency after the hyperinflation, we dealt with the debt crisis, as we don’t depend on the international Monetary Fund ,IMF, anymore, and we have strong reserve. Our reserve is up to $350 billion, the fourth or fifth in the world and this allow the country to support the crisis much easier and gives more resilience to the economy.”
