Posted on April, 11, 2025 at 09:27 am
One of the major factors that retard economic growth and well-being of Nigerians is the inability of the country to grow enough food to carter for its citizens. In order to enhance food production, African Development Bank (AfDB) has introduced strategies to boost agriculture in Nigeria, writes Chinedu Eze
In order to address Nigeria’s $4.9 billion annual food security challenges, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has introduced Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) project to boost agriculture in Nigeria with the objective that the country will produce enough food for its citizens.
There is a correlation between food sufficiency and economic development of any nation.
According to International Food Production Research Institute (IFPRI) Africa, food security deteriorated in Africa during the past decade, and the number of undernourished people has been increasing since 2010. The prevalence of undernourishment is now above pre-pandemic levels at 9.7 per cent compared with 7.2 per cent in 2019, and Africa reports the highest level in the world.
The agency noted that external factors, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, have contributed to this increase and projections show that almost 600 million people in Africa will be chronically undernourished in 2030. Moreover, Africa is not on track for SDG2 (Sustainable Development Goals) to eradicate hunger by 2030. To achieve food security and reduce the number of undernourished people, many policymakers are advocating for food self-sufficiency. Relying on local production and promoting it through various policy measures, including restrictive trade policies, which appears to many to be a natural solution.
Callistus Orgu in his work, Food Security and Economic Development in Nigeria, observed that the number of people without enough, adequate and safe food to eat on a regular basis remains stubbornly high, at over 900 million (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2010) and is not falling significantly.
Also, according to a World Food Programme estimate, hunger affects one out of seven people on the planet. In 2010, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimated that more than one billion of the world’s population did not have enough food to live healthy and productive lives. Ironically, the highest proportion of the food insecurity is in rural areas where food is produced, yet they are net food buyers rather than food sellers. Over 60 per cent of the world undernourished people live in Asia, and a quarter in Africa.
The latest FAO figures indicate that there are 22 countries, 16 of which are in Africa, in which the undernourishment prevalence rate is over 35 per cent. Achievement of food security in any country is typically an insurance against hunger and malnutrition, both of which hinder economic development. This is why all developed and some developing countries make considerable efforts to increase their food production capacity. Approximately one billion people worldwide are undernourished, many more suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, and the absolute numbers tend to increase further, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (FAO, 2008), as the World Bank proposed a definition of food security which remains current today.
Also, a publication by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), written by Yusuf Yila, noted that the potential of the Nigerian agricultural sector is enormous but plagued with perennial challenges of poor access to input, low productivity per hectare, lack of access to finance, little or no mechanisation, poor agronomic practices and extension services, post-harvest losses, ineffective markets and others.
AfDB Intervention
There is now a new dawn for Nigerian agriculture as Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) implementation takes off in Kaduna and Cross River states. According to AfDB, Nigeria is set to revolutionise its agricultural landscape as construction begins on the SAPZ project—a flagship initiative of the African Development Bank Group’s Feed Africa strategy.
Kaduna and Cross River States will lead this agricultural transformation, marking a pivotal shift in Nigeria’s approach to agribusiness and food security. So, the Federal Government of Nigeria, in strategic partnership with the African Development Bank Group and key international partners—the Islamic Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and Africa Grow Together Fund—inaugurated Phase 1 Implementation of the SAPZ programme.
This represents a bold step toward comprehensive agro-industrial development across the nation. Vice President Kashim Shettima and African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, led this transformative initiative and officially unveiled construction in Kaduna and Cross River.
With an unprecedented investment of $538 million, SAPZ Phase 1 stands as African Development Bank’s largest programme in any African country to date. The official ground breaking ceremonies held are on April 8 in Kaduna State and April 10 in Cross River State, was a timely intervention as Nigeria confronts mounting food insecurity challenges and seeks economic diversification.
PPP
So, African Development Bank has pushed for the adoption of Private-Public Partnership (PPP) model to drive sustainable development and this initiative embodies President Tinubu’s commitment to boosting food security, creating sustainable employment, and revitalizing peri-urban economies through innovative public-private partnerships.
AfDB believes that leading private sector partners will spearhead the design, development, and operation of these zones, establishing a blueprint for sustainable agro-industrial growth.
The launch of SAPZ will catalyse momentum for SAPZ Phase 2, with 28 additional states already positioned to join this agricultural renaissance.
African Development Bank recalled that the bank raised an unprecedented $2.2 billion dollars commitment at the recent Africa investment forum in Rabat, Morocco for the Nigeria Phase 2 SAPZ and it believed that the lessons learnt from Phase 1 will lead to a faster implementation of this next phase.
“This initiative embodies President Tinubu’s commitment to boosting food security, creating sustainable employment, and revitalizing peri-urban economies through innovative public-private partnerships. Leading private sector partners will spearhead the design, development, and operation of these zones, establishing a blueprint for sustainable agro-industrial growth. The launch will catalyse momentum for SAPZ Phase 2, with 28 additional states already positioned to join this agricultural renaissance,” AfDB said in a statement.
Nigeria’s Food Security Challenges
With Nigeria losing billions of naira annually to food insecurity, the SAPZ initiative represents both a developmental priority and an economic imperative. The programme aims to transform Nigeria into a global agribusiness leader by strategically leveraging co-financing and private sector expertise.
“The Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone is about developing new economic zones across Africa close to where farmers are,” Adesina recently explained.
According to him, “These zones have enabling infrastructure—power, water, roads, irrigation—and today, we’re investing over $3 billion in more than 11 countries. Transformation without agricultural transformation is incomplete because agriculture touches the lives of people at the grassroots level.”
Development Strategy
The SAPZ Nigeria Program delivers a three-pronged approach, which include infrastructure development for agro-industrial zones; institutional capacity building and business environment enhancement and agricultural productivity support, skills development, and private investment facilitation across value chains.
These zones are strategically established in high agricultural potential areas, equipped with robust infrastructure and common services, and supported by tailored policy incentives to seamlessly integrate agricultural and industrial businesses.
By clustering agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural advantage, these zones bring together producers, processors, aggregators, and distributors within spheres of comparative advantage, reducing transaction costs while driving productivity and enterprise development.
Agricultural Ecosystems for Rural Prosperity
The SAPZ initiative promises to attract companies that will purchase raw materials directly from farmers for processing, creating new ecosystems of wealth in rural economies. Through value-added manufacturing, these zones will trigger long-awaited structural transformation, revitalizing rural areas, enhancing food security, improving employment opportunities, and boosting both regional and international trade.
Additional Phase 1 outputs include comprehensive skills development for farmers and micro, small, and medium enterprises, alongside an updated agro-industrial zone policy featuring a specialized regulatory regime designed to accelerate growth.
This landmark initiative positions Nigeria at the forefront of Africa’s agricultural revolution, offering a strategic platform to assess progress, reinforce commitments, and amplify the nation’s leadership in agricultural transformation.
AfDB observed that Cross River State, located in the southeastern part of Nigeria, has a diverse and vibrant agricultural sector. Agriculture plays a crucial role in the state’s economy, providing employment for a large portion of the population and contributing to food security.
Kaduna State, located in the northern part of Nigeria, is known for its diverse agricultural activities. Agriculture plays a crucial role in the state’s economy, providing employment for a significant portion of the population and contributing to food security in the region.
Life-saving Support
World Food Programme (WFP) had called for urgent life-saving support in Nigeria, as 33 million people face food insecurity in 2025. The global body saidrecord inflation, climate shocks and ongoing conflicts are projected to push the number of food insecure Nigerians to 33 million in 2025, a sharp increase from the 25 million who needed assistance in the past year and noted that never before have there been so many people in Nigeria without food.
According to WFP, data shows that immediate support is needed to avert a potential food and nutrition disaster in Nigeria, where the combination of triple-digit increases in food prices, the aftermath of devastating floods, and 15 years of insurgency in the northeast are stretching families to the limit.
“The food security and nutrition reports show us that Nigeria faces a monumental hunger crisis in the second half of 2025, particularly in the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe where five million people are facing acute food insecurity. But the risk includes other areas too, notably emerging hunger hotspots in Zamfara, Katsina, and Sokoto states,” WFP said in a statement.
These are some of the realties that prompted the intervention of African Development Bank to embark on Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones in order to make food available to the vulnerable demography who are facing hunger threat.
Source: This Day Live