LAGOS – Sarah Olagbegi-Odende is the founder and chief executive officer of African Harvesters, an agribusiness online resource platform. She is also the technical assistant to the Osun State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Independent, she said that the platform is an agribusiness hub for stakeholders in the agricultural value chain. She stated that the platform focuses on reporting activities in the agricultural value across Africa for Africans and the world at large.
She described the platform as an information hub for stakeholders to bridge the information gap in Africa’s agriculture sector by working with those interested in agriculture, especially the youth and women.
Olagbegi-Odende, said that the aim of the platform is make it the authentic platform for articulating, projecting and engaging stakeholders in the agricultural and allied sectors of Africa and provide a platform for ideas, interventions, and contributions aimed at stimulating and sustaining a revolution in the Africa’s agribusiness sector.
She disclosed that the platform works with government agencies, civil society organizations, donor agencies and institutions to promote agribusiness on the African continent.
She disclosed that she founded African Harvesters eight years ago after working with the Community of Agricultural Stakeholders and other organizations in the agricultural sector.
She added that she ventured into the sector in search of knowledge, adding that it was her passion for agriculture that led her into the sector.
On how she is able to navigate among the jobs she does, Olagbegi-Odende told Daily Independent that she prioritises her activities, adding, “I put my family first because that is the most important thing to me and I have been able to strike a balance between family and work.”
On her assessment of agriculture in terms of policy and implementation in Nigeria, Olagbegi-Odende disclosed that bureaucracy sometimes delays implantation of policies. She argued that it is important for development partners to make sure that they support policies and programmes that produce positive and effective results.
She stressed the need for stakeholders in agricultural value chain to synergize in order to achieve effective results.
She argued that it is important to make the agricultural value chain inclusive so that women can fulfil their potential in the sector.
The technical assistant to the Osun State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security stated any sector in which women are not given the opportunity to achieve their potential and contribute their quota will not grow.
She emphasised the need to train the girl child, adding a nation that refuses to train, educate and empower the girl child will remain backward and under-developed.
She tasked young women to work hard and be themselves, adding they should .follow the process and not be in rush to achieve overnight success.
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