The Federal Government, the United States government and other stakeholders have mapped our out strategies to mobilise $300 million to support investment and boost business in agriculture sector to reach at least 5,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in order to expand opportunities for agribusiness borrowers and lenders in Nigeria.
Indication to this development emerged on Tuesday during the launch of the Feed the Future (FTF) Nigeria Activity “Agribusiness Investment,” a programme spearheaded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote 5,000 SMEs, in Abuja on.
Feed the Future (FTF) Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity is also designed to create a business-enabling environment that promotes private sector investment in agriculture. The Agribusiness Investment activity launched simultaneously served as the Agribusiness Finance and Investment Summit. This five-year programme starting with $15.7 million activity is the first of USAID/Nigeria’s interventions as part of the Feed the Future country plan that was launched on July 18, 2019.
The programme focuses on five key pillars: enlisting public and private –sector partners; connecting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to agribusiness services; supporting the development of new financial products; linking MSMEs and entrepreneurs with larger firms; and reforming policies that constrain the ease of doing business.
The Agribusiness Investment activity aims to facilitate the growth of existing private sector agribusinesses and work with producer organizations in the rice, maize, soybean, aquaculture, and cowpea value chains to increase Nigeria’s food security status and foster job creation opportunities. The states of Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi, Benue, Delta, Ebonyi and Cross River are targeted under this initiative.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, in a speech at the launch, said the federal government was creating an enabling environment and would ensure coordination between the states, the federal government and the US to achieve the target.
Represented by Andrew Kwasari, Senior Policy Adviser in the Office of the Vice President, Osinbajo noted that “the synergy between the US, the Federal government and the states is “a way for the future. The agric sector is key because it employs the largest sector of our population especially the youth.” He added that opportunities abound in the sector that can be exploited and translated into reality.
US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, said “Through this initiative, the US government aims to work with the people of Nigeria to improve the ease of doing business in the agriculture sector, mitigate the risks to lending institutions, and promote investment opportunities for agribusiness to expand and scale up their operations.”
The USAID Contractor of the FTF Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity, Adam Saffer, noted that Nigeria has tremendous opportunity to take the advantage of the plentiful arable land in the country, abundant water, human resources , fertile soil and many other things that should make Nigeria not only self-sufficient but the food basket for the region.
He added that FTF Activity in order to help Nigeria reach the target “is working with financial institutions, investors, agro data, processors and other businesses and producers to create a more enabling environment to attract those finances and investors.”
He added that with a more efficient Agribusiness sector, food generation, better income and more inclusiveness of women and youth “we can end up with a better quality food at a lower price. Our activity is trying to activate $300 million from the investors, from the banks and from the finance institutions to make this happen,” he said.
Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, told reporters that Kebbi is doing a number of things to key into the programme to unlock the agricultural potentials of the state. “In the last five years, we have had significant improvement in yields in many commodities particularly rice where we have seen yields increasing from as little as one ton per hectare to an average of five to six tons per hectare . We have similar increases in other crops like soya beans and millet,” he said.
He added that such improvements in the agric sector in the state would attract more capital and investors to exploit the bountiful opportunities in the state.
Contributing, Cross River state Governor, Ben Ayade, called on the US to assist Nigeria with the requisite technology to tackle some of the challenges associated with food production and preservation in the country.
