Nigeria: Agriculture is catalyst to job, wealth creation
Food security, job and wealth creation, as well as fast-paced urbanization of Nigeria’s rural areas are realizable with the implementation of the Nigerian Agribusiness and Agro-industries Development Initiative (NADI), an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.
The agriculture sector in Nigeria is a catalyst for economic transformation with a huge potential for job and wealth creation. There are tremendous growth opportunities in agriculture in Nigeria, and on the African continent, especially in the light of increasing difficulty in maintaining global food security. Attention is shifting to Africa, specifically Nigeria with its large number of farmers, to increase food production to become self-sufficient while also supplementing supply as global demand for food rises. In Nigeria, for instance, there is neeet to adopt value chain financing approach by all players across the value chain. Input suppliers, smallholder agriculture, commercial and primary agriculture, as well as primary processing and secondary agriculture, must have access to funding.
The Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and NADI are complementary initiatives by government to maximize local opportunities in the agriculture sector with the aim of repositioning agribusiness and agro-industries as the hub of the Nigerian economy. Through NIRSAL, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) addresses the challenges being faced by commercial lenders to the agricultural sector while also creating cheaper liquidity and subsidized interest rates to encourage investments across the entire value chain. It is fair to say this will increase agricultural productivity thereby improving household food and income security, as well as the development of rural business serving farmers.
The agriculture development workshop was convened by the Ministry of Trade and Investment to discuss the Nigerian Agribusiness and Agro-industries Development Initiative which has to do with the promotion of sustainable and inclusive agribusiness and agro-industries development. Participants are expected to come up with a roadmap for the implementation of the initiative, a major step forward in the efforts aimed at job creation and economic growth by the Ministry of Trade and Investment. It was conceptualized as a mechanism to spur the development of competitive, sustainable and inclusive agro-industries and agribusinesses in Nigeria as a driver of economic growth and food security in the country.
NADI aims to facilitate and increase private sector investment flows going into the agriculture sector in Nigeria by mobilizing resources for agribusiness and agro-industrial development from domestic, regional and international financial systems. It aligns with NIRSAL that is being piloted by the CBN and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to fast-track local and foreign investments in agric business in Nigeria.
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