By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AS non-oil exports take centre stage, the Project Coordinator, Nigeria International Agricultural EXPO, NIAEXPO 2025, Amb Abiodun Olaniyi,  Wednesday, asserted that Nigerian farmers will be connected directly with international markets to sustain penetration of their products.

Olaniyi made the assertion during a press briefing while he explained the essence of the 7th edition of NIAEXPO 2025, with the theme ‘

The NIAEXPO 2025 will serve as a global marketplace for innovation, trade, and investment in agriculture, projecting Nigeria as a major hub for agribusiness in Africa. 

By showcasing local innovation, empowering women in agribusiness, and connecting

farmers to international markets, NIAEXPO 2025 will strengthen Nigeria’s role in global food

security and sustainable agriculture.

 The 7th Nigeria International Agriculture Expo is scheduled to hold from 26th-28th August 2025 at Abuja Trade and Convention Centre, Lugbe , Abuja, with the theme ‘Showcasing Nigeria’s Agricultural Potential on a Global Stage’.

He said: “This is the 7th edition, the journey of being both the good, the bad and the ugly, but the only thing there is to project Nigeria potential, and that’s one of the basis of why we are organizing this Programme, to really project Nigeria, and also to internationalize our agricultural business.”

He also said the NIAEXPO 2025 will address issues affecting agribusiness in Nigeria, including issues affecting the small businesses in the agricultural sector; post-harvest losses; the use of agricultural inputs; distribution and the agricultural supply chain.

According to him, there is a target to achieve the objectives of the Programme which by 2030, Nigeria should have the edge so that the agricultural sector is taken to a higher level with actions and activities backing it up, hence the EXPO is tailored in that direction.

He also made it known that, “There will be a forum for organic and agroecology education that will also be very paramount during the Programme, it is a whole and balance forum, which Nigerian agro-stakeholders have a lot to really gain from.”

Also speaking, the Project Lead NIAExpo, Adekunle Adamson, added that the Programme will also touch on Farmers’ Day and the Women Entrepreneurship Hub.

Adamson said: “In this edition, we are bringing up, we created a sub-event, which we call the Farmers’ Day, just to celebrate farmers and to make them to be inclusive in the event that we are having.

“We have mobilized farmers through all the various farming associations, organizations, and all of that. So we have mobilized enough of them, where there are various dedicated schemes and trainings that we have arranged for them to be part of.

“So by the time they go back to their various places, they will be able to apply whatever they have learned from this event to further improve their inputs and outputs. 

“Also, in this edition, we have created what we call the Women Entrepreneurship Hub. It is a hub within the exhibition where not only the big-time farmers, manufacturers, equipment importers, and all of that but also the entrepreneurs also, those that are into small-scale farming, we have created a hub for them to come together, those that are still trying to get their product registered, or they even registered it, or trying to, so that we can train them on how to package, market, present their goods to the public for it to be acceptable. So these are the new things that we are introducing into this particular edition.”