ADB’s $2.7b jab for agric sector

Unlocking Nigeria’s agriculture sector to promote industrialisation by developing value chains has been a major challenge despite the immense potential the industry holds in driving economic growth, creating jobs, and ensuring food security. Food insecurity remains a significant challenge in Nigeria, with millions of people facing hunger and malnutrition.

The major causes can be traced to widespread insecurity, bad governance, climate change, gender inequality, poor access to markets, lack of storage facilities, deplorable rural infrastructure and food loss. To address some of the challenges the African Development Bank, ADB, under the leadership of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, came up with the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, SAPZ, programme in 11 African countries, including Nigeria, to unlock the sector’s potentials.

The SAPZ programme in Nigeria is the largest, with the $538.05 million first phase to be implemented in seven states: Cross River, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Imo and Oyo. These states were chosen based on readiness and the need to achieve a balance across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones.

The SAPZ initiative, supported by counterpart funding from development partners and the private sector, is designed to address challenges that have long hindered the growth of Nigeria’s agricultural economy, including inadequate processing infrastructure, limited access to markets, and rural unemployment. SAPZ is expected to turn the rural landscape into zones of economic prosperity and harness the power of commercial agriculture. The focus is on the promotion of commodities that have high export revenue or import substitution potentials.

Rather than export raw produce like cocoa, rice, cassava, tomato, maize, ginger, groundnut, sesame oil, beef and dairy to urban areas or even abroad for processing, these SAPZs will be equipped with everything needed to aid value-addition to bring agribusinesses closer to the farms.

About 1.5 million households are expected to benefit directly throughout the agricultural value chain. These include private agribusinesses, agro-processors and smallholder farmers. The SAPZs are expected to create at least 400,000 direct jobs, and a further 1.6 million indirect jobs during construction and operational phases.

As the AfDB reaffirms its commitment to mobilise additional $2.2 billion to execute the second phase across 28 states in Nigeria, we urge our governors, political leaders and administrators to support this laudable initiative. States not participating in the first phase have the opportunity to benefit from the second phase.

The turnout of Nigerians in Kaduna and Calabar during the recent launch of the programme showed their eagerness to embrace this programme.

While we commend Dr Adesina, a former high performing Nigerian Agriculture Minister, for generously accommodating Nigeria in the ADB’s SAPZ initiative, we urge the states that have shown interest in the programme described as a “game changer” by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, to set good examples.

This will spur other states to key in.