SAPZ: FG, AfDB, IFAD, others commit $131m to boost agriculture in Kano

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The Federal Government of Nigeria, in partnership with African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), State Governments and Private Investors have committed the sum of $131 million for development of agriculture in Kano state, through Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) Programme.
PEOPLES DAILY reports that the FG/AfDB/IFAD/ISDB is implementing a seven-year (2022-2028) assisted SAPZ Programme, in seven participating states namely, including Kano, Imo, Kaduna, Cross River, Kwara, Oyo and Ogun, as well as in the Federal Capital territory (FCT).
Specifically, IFAD would be financing the activities of the programme in Ogun and Kano States.
SAPZ is a comprehensive and inclusive agroindustrialization programme designed as a tool for creating integrated, agricultural focused platforms that will accelerate private sector investment in value added agro processing to unlock opportunities for improved food security, job creation, import substitution, rural poverty reduction and increased contribution of agriculture to national GDP.
Speaking at the SAPZ: Joint Federal Government of Nigeria/IFAD Mission First Implementation Support Mission and Start-Up Workshop, held in Kano yesterday, the National Project Coordinator of the programme, Dr Kabir Yusuf disclosed that the total portfolio of the project $538 million.
He added that the whopping sum of $131 had been earmarked for the SAPZ programme Kano state alone.
According to Yusuf, the project is basically targeting small holder farmers, especially the IFAD component, adding that it is a whole value chain the project from production to processes.
“ So not just upscaling small holder farmers but also clustering processes, reducing their transaction cost and supporting them to ensure that whatever we produce, we process to finish commodities and we domesticate processing income so that we should reduce the export of agricultural commodities out of our country, especially this time of the country.
“Kano for sure, is an agrarian state, the people of Kano, most of them are farmers. So, as was mentioned, that was the largest state in the country with the highest number of dams.
“So, such this project is here to build those dams to rehabilitate these dams to also create irrigation channels and importantly to upscale the capacity of farmers to improve their yield when producing.
“So the total portfolio of this project is 538 million dollars. For Kano, it has the highest portfolio of 131 million dollars,” he said.
In his remarks, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari expressed the Federal Government determination in partnering with relevant stakeholders , aimed at enhancing food production for domestic and export usage.
Represented by the Director Projects Coordinating Unit of the Ministry Mr Musa Bukar, the Minister said the implementation mission of the FGN/IFAD SAPZ programme was meant to support the development of the program in enhancing high food production.