Nigeria?s Agriculture Minister, Akinwumi Ayo Adesina - considered by UN's secretary-general as one of the 20 greatest supporters of the Millennium Goals and great enthusiast in the fight against hunger and poverty - met with FGV Projetos' directors and representatives of the Gates Foundation on April 11-12, in São Paulo, to learn about the agribusiness development model in Brazil and its expertise in the sector. Nigeria is today one of Brazil?s major trading partners in Africa and hopes, from the renowned Brazilian model, to benefit from, innovate and improve its production and technology.

On the 11^th, the Minister and his delegation met with entrepreneurs and leaders from the agribusiness sector in Brazil at a private dinner to present the historical overview of the agricultural sector in Nigeria. A regional power and most populous country in Africa, Nigeria intends to resume the prominent position it had until the 1960's in the sector when it was among the largest exporters, increasing agricultural productivity in a sustainable way, and hence, reducing hunger and poverty of millions of farming families in the region.

The Minister praised Brazil's performance in agriculture, stating his desire to make Nigeria move forward in this sector inspired by the performance of the country. Regarding the visit to learn about the projects developed by FGV Projetos, Adesina said that we are fortunate not only because we have excellent scientists involved in this initiative, but also because we have important leaders in this group.

The following participants were present - FGV Projetos' director, Cesar Cunha Campos; the division?s control director, Antônio Carlos Kfoury Aidar; Nigerian Ambassador in Brazil, Muhammad Lawal Sulaiman; a senior program officer at the Gates Foundation, Valerie Bemo; former president of Embrapa, Carlos Magno; and representatives from Odebrecht, Standard Bank and various associations and sectoral agencies.

The next day, the technical delegation visited FGV Projetos' office in São Paulo, where they participated in presentations on Brazilian agriculture and economy, and on the Master Plan model for Mozambican agribusiness development, ProSavana's Master Plan and the Nacala Fund, an investment fund for the sector in Mozambique.

The project - in partnership with the governments of Brazil, Mozambique and Japan, and awarded by the Global South-South Development Expo 2012, sponsored by the UN - through its industrial development unit (UK) - is a successful example of socioeconomic development promoted by agribusiness and can inspire similar initiatives in Nigeria.