Key points
- The Federal Government has validated the draft Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) policy.
- The policy aims to attract $4.4 billion in investment, strengthen value addition and create jobs.
- Phase One of the programme covers seven states and the Federal Capital Territory.
- Development partners say the initiative should prioritise private investment and smallholder farmers.
Main story
The Federal Government has taken a major step towards implementing its Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) programme with the validation of a draft policy designed to accelerate agro-industrial development, attract $4.4 billion in investment and create jobs.
The draft policy was reviewed at a stakeholder validation workshop in Abuja, where government officials, development partners and industry stakeholders discussed a framework to guide the planning, regulation and long-term sustainability of agro-processing zones across the country.
National Programme Coordinator of SAPZ, Dr Kabir Yusuf, described the policy as a critical framework for transforming Nigeria’s agricultural sector from primary production into an industrial value chain capable of attracting large-scale private investment.
He said the initiative was designed to strengthen agricultural value addition, expand exports, improve food security and create an enabling environment for investors by aligning existing agricultural, industrial, trade and investment policies.
According to Yusuf, the programme’s first phase will be implemented across seven states and the Federal Capital Territory before expanding to other parts of the country.
He said the project has an estimated economic internal rate of return of 30.85 per cent and a financial rate of return of 30.71 per cent, reflecting its long-term investment potential.
Yusuf said successful implementation would require close coordination among more than 20 federal ministries, departments and agencies, state governments and private sector investors.
He also highlighted the country’s heavy dependence on food imports, citing the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, who described Nigeria’s annual food import bill of more than $10 billion as unsustainable compared with agro-export earnings of less than $400 million.
Yusuf added that poor infrastructure and weak agricultural value chains contribute to post-harvest losses of between 30 and 60 per cent, costing the country an estimated $9 billion to $10 billion annually.
Country Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dede Ekoue, said the policy should promote seamless investment while ensuring that smallholder farmers, women and young people remain central to Nigeria’s agro-industrial transformation.
She added that partnerships involving the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and private investors would be essential to the programme’s success.
The issues
Nigeria has long struggled to convert its agricultural output into higher-value processed products because of inadequate infrastructure, weak logistics and limited processing capacity. The SAPZ policy seeks to address these bottlenecks by creating integrated agro-industrial hubs that can attract investment, reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen the country’s food value chains.
What’s being said
“The policy was conceived not as another agricultural programme, but as an industrialisation programme anchored on agriculture.” — Dr Kabir Yusuf, National Programme Coordinator, SAPZ.
Bottom line
The SAPZ policy is expected to provide the institutional framework for attracting investment into agro-processing, reducing food imports and accelerating Nigeria’s transition from an agriculture-based economy to an agro-industrial one.
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