FG Will Transform Agro Value Chain With $500m, Says Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima made the disclosure while chairing a high-level meeting on the first day of the United Nations Food Systems Summit declared open in Rome, Italy by the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guteress.

He said the fund would be used for “innovation finance for food system transformation; development of Nigeria’s agro value chain and Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones programmes”.

In a statement on Tuesday by the VP’s Director Information, Olusola Abiola, Shettima said, “In this event, the Government of Nigeria will be showcasing its Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) as a unique example of a successful partnership between producers, the public sector and private operators.”

“The VCDP which is co-funded by the of Nigeria and IFAD has empowered vulnerable farmers and youth to engage into commercial partnerships with some of the biggest food processing and marketing firms in the world such as OLAM, a world leading agri-business company operating in over 60 countries with an annual revenue of about $39.8 billion,” the VP added.

Stating the government’s vision about ending hunger, the VP added that “building on the success of the VCDP, the Federal Government is determined to capacitate Nigeria’s rural smallholders and operators, youth and women living below the poverty line to take advantage of the new Special Processing Zones.”

On the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), Vice President Shettima said it “brings together local governments, IFAD, AfDB, IsDB, GCF, OLAM and other private actors alongside the government of Nigeria for transformative financing of food systems that leaves no-one behind.”