News in brief: The African Development Bank has launched the second phase of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) program in Nigeria, aiming to transform the country’s agricultural practices and boost industrialisation.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has begun the second phase of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) program in Nigeria. The program, which aims to revolutionise agricultural practices in the country will be vital in transforming it into a thriving industrial society.
Watch @AfDB_Group Professor @BanjiOyeyinka, special adviser to Bank President @akin_adesina, speak at the #Nigeria inception workshop on phase two of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones. He places emphasis on #developing peri-urban areas. pic.twitter.com/cQPpNUqrOw
â African Development Bank Group (@AfDB_Group) September 8, 2023
AfDB’s revealed that about 20 states in the country have expressed a desire to participate in the program. It would announce shortlisted participants soon after an internal process of determining their eligibility to participate.
The Nigerian SAPZ program is a flagship initiative of the development bank’s Feed Africa Strategy. Its main objectives include achieving food self-sufficiency and boosting the exports of processed agricultural products in the country. It focuses its interests in areas in the country with high agricultural potentials.
Senior Special Advisor on Industrialization to the President of the AfDB, Prof. Oyelaran-Oyeyinka Oyebanji, said that the main priority of the SAPZ program is to drive structural transformation of the Nigerian economy. He said that the program will help to turn impoverished rural areas into prosperous zones of growth and opportunity.
SAPZs will bring together farmers, agricultural producers, processors, aggregators, and distributors in the same location. This will help to reduce transaction costs and facilitate shared business development services. Subsequently, it is hoped to boost productivity and competitiveness across the agricultural value chain.
Lamin G. Barrow, the Director General of Nigeria Country Department of the African Development Bank, clarified how the programme will work. He said that the government oversee the SAPZ program but the private sector will lead it.
Additionally, the AfDB organised a two-day inception workshop to kick off the second phase of the SAPZ program in Nigeria. It will be followed by a high-level stakeholders’ meeting involving state governors.
The event will bring together representatives from federal and state governments, development partners, and private sector stakeholders. Also, it will feature discussions on identifying key commodities, high-potential value chains, suitable sites, state government readiness, private sector interest, and other critical factors.
