Director-general, Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) and executive adviser on Agribusiness to Governor Seyi Makinde, Dr Debo Akande, has disclosed that a French firm, Semmaris-Rungis International Market, is set to support the establishment of an international wholesale agribusiness market in the state.
Akande stated this when a delegation of the firm, including its head of International Projects, Timothée Witkowski and consultant-market specialist, Steve Allen, paid a courtesy visit to the governor in Ibadan.
According to the OYSADA boss, the investors plan to complement the Makinde administration’s efforts in the agribusiness sector with the establishment of the market, which will be a major market for agribusiness and for farmers.
He added that the investors had, before the visit to the governor, gone round the state to see the infrastructure built by the governor in the last five years, the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub as well as major markets in the state.
Akande said: “It is a courtesy visit to His Excellency. The team came from what we call the Rungis-SEMMARIS Market in France. We have been there together with His Excellency in the past.
“What they plan to do is to support us in establishing the International Wholesale Agribusiness Market in Oyo State, most likely in Ibadan.
“This is to complement a lot of work the governor has been doing in agribusiness in the state. This will be a major market for agribusiness and for farmers as well. They have gone round to see most of the facilities that have been built by the governor in the past five years.
“They have been to lseyin-Moniya road, Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub, Bodija Market, Akinyele Market and others to see what is currently on ground and what they can do to advance on that.
“What they have in France, which we are mirroring ourselves after, is a global market, the largest wholesale market globally and we have seen it. If you go there by 5 am, you won’t see anybody because most of the products in that place have been taken by trailers, moving to diverse places in Europe.”