By Babatunde Jimoh 

Nigeria is reportedly facing about $4.9 billion annual food security challenge and losses billions each year due to food insecurity and to address this critical developmental priority and an undeniable economic imperative for the country, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has come up with the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone initiative.

Nigeria is among 11 African countries chosen by the AfDB for the program designed to catalys agriculture in Africa into an internationally competitive sector and an important contributor to sustainable development.

The SAPZ program in Nigeria is the largest, both in scale and scope with the Phase 1 being implemented over five years in seven states of   Cross River; Imo , Kaduna , Kano, Kwara, Ogun  and Oyo as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The program will later be rolled out in more states with states participating in the first phase  chosen based on readiness and to achieve a balance across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones. 

The African Development Bank and key development partners are co-financing the first phase for a value of $538.05 million. 

The African Development Bank is providing $210 million, the Islamic Development Bank,  the International Fund for Agricultural Development are jointly contributing $310 million and the Nigerian government is providing $18.05 million.

The SAPZ program is expected to turn the rural landscape into economic zones of prosperity and harnessing the power of commercial agriculture and food production 

SAPZ is also expected to increase household incomes, foster job creation in rural agricultural communities, especially for youth and women, and enhance food and nutritional security in Nigeria.

The launched of the program in Nigeria  is coming at a critical time  the country  is  intensifying efforts to diversify its economy and combat rising food insecurity.

The SAPZ Nigeria Programme  will employ a comprehensive three-pronged approach, focusing on infrastructure development, business environment enhancement, and skills development.

It aims to establish robust infrastructure within the agro-industrial zones, strengthen institutional capabilities, support agricultural productivity, and attract private investment across diverse value chains.

Strategically located in areas with high agricultural potential, these zones will be equipped with essential infrastructure and common services. 

They will also benefit from tailored policy incentives designed to seamlessly integrate agricultural and industrial businesses.

By clustering agro-processing activities within regions of significant agricultural advantage, the SAPZs will bring together producers, processors, aggregators, and distributors, thereby reducing transaction costs. 

Moreover, it will simultaneously drive productivity and foster enterprise development. 

Speaking at the launch in Calabar, Cross River state, Nigeria’s Vice President , Senator Kashim Shettima , described the initiative as a game changer, set to boost national development and tackle food security challenges.

“We gather in Calabar, Cross River State, today to breathe life into the construction of this critical special agro-industrial zone.

“This comes just three days after the groundbreaking in Kaduna State, proving that this is a promise well kept by both the federal and state governments.

“This is not merely the commencement of a flagship project but a celebration of a vision—one of agro-industrial growth and sustainable development for our country.”

While linking  the project to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, Shettima expressed confidence that the initiative would create thousands of jobs and empower Nigerian youth, positioning them as active stakeholders in the economy.

“This zone will generate thousands of jobs, opportunities for young people and also empower them with skills and knowledge.” 

“In addition, this SAPZ will also enable Nigeria to diversify its economy through a sustainable source.”

Senator Shettima added “What is more exciting than the promise of a vibrant agricultural value chain is the journey towards its fulfillment.

“This gathering is one for the history books. There is no intervention more practical in realising our dream of a self-sufficient nation than maximising the potential of agriculture.

For the initiator of the program, Dr, Akinwumi Adesina, President African Development Bank (AFDB), the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone is about developing new economic zones across Africa, close to where farmers are. 

Adesina  noted that these zones have enabling infrastructure—power, water, roads, irrigation—and today, “we’re investing over $3 billion in more than 11 countries.” 

He emphasised that transformation without an agricultural revolution is incomplete because “agriculture touches people’s lives at the grassroots level”.

Adesina commended Kaduna and Cross Rivers state governors for their unparalleled commitments to agriculture, citing that Governor Uba Sani had increased the State budget allocated to agriculture to 10 per cent – about N74 billion committed to agriculture in 2025. 

He added that 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. With joy, the AfDB president said that the development of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones is finally a reality in Nigeria under the government of President Bola Ahmed 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 for 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 $934 million for the development of SAPZs and mobilised co-financing of over $938 million from partners, including the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).