Prolonged rejection of Nigerian agricultural products in international markets, attributed to alleged non-compliance with packaging and processing standard guidelines, has adversely affected the local economy, eroded farmers’ confidence, and threatened food security in the country. To help reverse this trend, the African Development Bank has launched the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones projects across the country, writes FELIX OLOYEDE
NIGERIA is blessed with year-round arable food crops that are now equivalent to crude oil’s worth in the global market. In that light, the previous administration pencilled no fewer than 22 non-oil products in the export promotion programme.
Collaborating with the private sector, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council’s zero-oil plan also estimated local food crops worth over $150bn in yearly export value.
Among these cash crops are palm oil, cashew, cocoa, soya beans, rubber, rice, ginger, cotton, Shea butter, tomato, banana, plantain, cassava, cowpeas, spices, petrochemicals and leather.
Coincidentally, during the same period of non-oil promotion, the country slumped in the export of agricultural products following a spate of rejections and prohibitions overseas over poor packaging, documentation, and alleged non-compliance with set standards.
Nigerian yam, hibiscus flowers (for zobo drink), mushrooms, bitter leaf, fluted pumpkin leaf, waterleaf, garden eggs, shelled groundnut, and crayfish, among others, are some items listed by exporters as being on the rejection list.
While the Shippers Association of Lagos estimated that the seized or prohibited items make up 82 per cent of the country’s exportable agro-allied produce, the World Bank projects that Nigeria and other developing countries are expected to lose between $12bn and $15bn by 2025 to rejected exports.
Last year, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Nkonjo-Iweala, said Nigeria lost its leading position in the agricultural export markets because its agricultural commodities do not meet the sanitary and phytosanitary requirements of the foreign markets.
Nkonjo-Iweala’s counterpart in the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has come up with a solution to this problem– a well-funded Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone that is built closer to rural farmers.
Following tested models in other African countries, the AfDB, in partnership with development partners, has begun “the new era of agricultural transformation” across the 36 states, beginning with the recent rollout of the SAPZs in Kaduna and Cross River States.
The SAPZ Nigeria Programme, a flagship initiative of the African Development Bank Group’s Feed Africa strategy, has a three-pronged approach of 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.
Partnership
The Federal Government, in a 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—will inaugurate Phase 1 implementation of the SAPZ programme covering eight states of Kaduna, Kano, Kastina, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Cross Rivers and Imo States; and the FCT.
The total financing for the first phase of the SAPZs in Nigeria is $510m. For this first phase, the AfDB is providing $200m, including $50m from the Africa Growing Together Fund, with co-financing of $100m from the International Fund for Agricultural Development, $150m from the Islamic Development Bank and $60m from the Green Climate Fund.
Recall that the bank raised an unprecedented $2.2bn commitment at the recent Africa Investment Forum in Rabat, Morocco, for the Nigeria Phase 2 SAPZ. Lessons learnt from this phase will lead to a faster implementation of the next phase.
Rural prosperity
With Nigeria losing billions 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. These zones have enabling infrastructure—power, water, roads, irrigation—and today, we’re investing over $3bn in more than 11 countries, including Nigeria,” Adesina explained.
He emphasised that transformation without an agricultural revolution was incomplete because “agriculture touches people’s lives at the grassroots level”.
Adesina commended the Kaduna and Cross Rivers States governors for their unparalleled commitment to agriculture. He noted that Governor Uba Sani had increased the state budget allocated to agriculture to 10 per cent–about N74bn committed to agriculture in 2025.
According to the AfDB boss, Cross River State also has a significant role in Nigeria’s agricultural transformation because of the vast production of cocoa, cassava, rice and banana in the state, saying Obudu Cattle Ranch alone can turn the state into a huge livestock producer.
The AfDB president said that the development of the SAPZs was a reality in Nigeria under the government of President Bola Tinubu.
“Because this was an idea that I had when I was the Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria. At the time, it was called Staple Crops Processing Zones. I remember the rice revolution across northern Nigeria at the time and the dramatic improvement in the production of food, more generally, across all the agricultural value chains.
“The challenge was, we were producing more than we could process. Food losses were high due to a lack of appropriate storage and logistics infrastructure. And several agribusinesses were focused more on imports of processed foods, when in fact they should be processing the food and agricultural commodities of Nigeria,” he said.
Adesina added that changing that trend required understanding the challenges across the agricultural value chains, from the farm to the table. At the heart of that is the lack of appropriate infrastructure to support food and agribusinesses to take advantage of the rapidly rising staple food crop production, process, and add value, and deliver cheaper, processed, well-packaged food for consumers within Nigeria and export markets.
“Many of the food and agribusinesses were in the urban areas far from the zones of farm production, simply importing raw materials, processing and sending processed imported commodities within the country. The result was the displacement of the emergence of a dynamic food and agribusiness food processing and manufacturing industry that relies on the agricultural commodities produced in Nigeria. This lack of stable industry-driven market offtake for farmers depresses farm prices and negatively affects incentives for farmers to use new technologies, including improved seeds, fertilisers, irrigation and mechanisation.
“While I worked so hard to develop the Staple Crop Processing Zones, with the idea of having them all over the country at the time, institutional inertia from the Ministry of Trade and Investment made their roll-out impossible at the time, with the view that the Ministry of Agriculture should simply focus on ‘farm production’ while the Ministry of Trade and Investment focuses on ‘agribusiness’.”
Notwithstanding the disappointment of not getting the Staple Crop Processing Zones initiative off the ground in Nigeria some 10 years ago, his becoming the president of AfDB offered a bigger opportunity with the Feed Africa Strategy that has committed over $934m for the development of SAPZs and mobilised co-financing of over $938m from partners, including the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agriculture Development.
Currently, the SAPZs are under implementation in 27 sites across 11 countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Togo, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Mali, and now, Nigeria.
To ensure the success of the programme, The AfDB president called for enablers that include political will, consistent policies that are devoid of flipflops that come with a change in administration, cross-ministerial cooperation and collaboration, legislative backing for the SAPZs through an Act of the National Assembly, while the Bank of Industry, recapitalised Bank of Agriculture and commercial banks, ensure affordable financing for agricultural value chains.
Reactions
Speaking on Thursday when he performed the groundbreaking ceremony of SAPZ in Calabar, Vice President Kashim Shettima described the project as “a game changer” that aligned with the President Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, aimed at diversifying the nation’s economy, addressing food security, tackling rural unemployment, as well as empowering farmers and the youth population.
“There is no intervention more practical in our dream of a nation where the potential of agriculture is maximised than what has brought us together today. This is not just a project—it is a bold vision to transform Nigeria’s agricultural value chain,” Shettima said.
The VP added that the Kaduna and Calabar SAPZ would serve as a hub for agro-processing and storage, providing farmers and agripreneurs with critical infrastructure to scale their operations and tap into local and international markets.
“This is where farmers will meet with private investors, where ideas will turn into enterprise, and where our youth will find meaningful opportunities,” he said, disclosing that the Tinubu administration has classified SAPZ as a priority programme in Nigeria’s quest for food security, with plans to institutionalise it as a government agency that will facilitate agricultural industrialisation across all 36 states.
Earlier, Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, said the programme marked a watershed in the ongoing bid by his administration to establish the renewable resource base of the state through the full utilisation of agriculture and its multiple value chain.
The governor pointed out that in Cross River State, establishing a cluster of smallholder farmers in cash crops, such as rice, cassava, millet, and cocoa across the state, was the right step towards the agro-industrial revolution.
According to Out, the paradigm shift from a non-renewable to a renewable resource base also holds the key to the prosperity of many nations, hence the imperative to join the league of sub-nationals in Nigeria that have adopted agriculture as the mainstay of their economy.
Also, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said the programme would transform Nigeria’s agricultural production and agro-investment landscape under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu.
The Association of Food and Agro Processors of Nigeria said the feat marked the beginning of a journey filled with promise, progress, and purpose in the food and agro-industries in Nigeria.
“This project symbolises vision, collaboration, and commitment to building Nigeria’s sustainable and agricultural-based economy. It is also a testament to what is achievable when minds come together with a shared dream and vision,” the associate stated.
Indeed, the SAPZ initiative, which thrives on a partnership based on a counterpart funding model, promises to systematically turn around the slumbering agriculture sector. Though Adesina’s two-term tenure at the AfDB ends soon, Nigerians and development partners look forward to SAPZ facilities that will outlast the current federal and state administrations.
