Federal Government Unveils $3.14bn Agric Investment Scheme With FAO

The national authorities has unveiled a $3.14 cardinal cultivation concern portfolio nether the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Hand-in-Hand Initiative, targeting 5 high-impact worth chains of tomato, cassava, maize, dairy and fisheries.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari made the disclosure connected Tuesday successful Abuja during his presumption astatine the National Hand-in-Hand (HiH) Investment Forum.

He said the inaugural was designed to eradicate poverty, extremity hunger, and physique resilience successful agrarian communities, portion aligning with planetary frameworks specified arsenic the Sustainable Development Goals and the AU’s CAADP Action Plan.

The curate further stated that the portfolio was backed by a combined committedness of $1.75 cardinal successful nationalist concern and $1.39 cardinal from backstage investors, stressing that the premix reflects some authorities ownership and backstage assemblage confidence.

He added that the portfolio would besides present clime gains, noting that “Per capita incomes volition emergence by arsenic overmuch arsenic $657 and we volition lend to planetary clime goals by sequestering implicit 1.2 cardinal tonnes of carbon”.

“Nigeria presents a robust and compelling 3.14 cardinal US dollar concern portfolio nether the FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative, this portfolio is strategically focused connected 5 high-impact worth chains: tomato, cassava, maize, dairy and fisheries.

“These cases person been cautiously selected done evidence-based analysis, taking into relationship marketplace demand, accumulation potential, clime resilience, and socio-economic impact.

“Together, they connection a beardown fiscal and developmental proposition, with an mean interior complaint of instrumentality supra 14 percent. More than 4.1 cardinal Nigerians basal to payment straight and indirectly,” Kyari said.

He stressed that the task was to contiguous a concrete, bankable opportunities successful agriculture and irrigation that were acceptable for investment. “These opportunities bespeak Nigeria’s enactment successful agriculture, the spot of our backstage sector, and our determination to alteration declarations into action.”

“Nigeria is honoured to big this forum astatine a captious moment, clime shocks, nutrient insecurity, and malnutrition stay pressing challenges. But done irrigation, innovation, and targeted investment, we tin crook these challenges into opportunities for sustainable growth, nutrient sovereignty, and determination integration”, Kyari said.

He pointed to Nigeria’s youthful population, increasing integer economy, divers agro-ecological zones and expanding determination markets arsenic cardinal assets that investors tin leverage.

“Demand is expanding domestically and crossed the region. Youth and integer innovation are reshaping the sector, public-private partnerships are scaling infrastructure and processing and argumentation reforms are reducing barriers to semipermanent investment,” helium added.

In his remarks, FAO typical successful Nigeria and ECOWAS, Hussein Gadain praised the government’s committedness and described the forum arsenic a level for action.

Gadain said the Hand-in-Hand Initiative has already identified high-impact concern opportunities and matched them with backstage assemblage and improvement partners.

He called irrigation a “game-changer” for Nigeria’s nutrient systems and commended Vice President Kashim Shettima for his “genuine committedness and visionary leadership.”

“Today, we stitchery not conscionable to discuss, but to catalyze action; not conscionable to plan, but to partner; and not conscionable to invest, but to transform.

“Let america enactment hand-in-hand to thrust the investments that volition guarantee accrued nutrient security, improved nutrition, amended jobs and sustainable economical maturation for the radical of Nigeria,” Gadain urged.