State governments participating in the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) project, have pledged their commitment to speedy and effective implementation of the project.
The state governments are: Cross River, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
They made the commitment in separate interviews with journalists on the sidelines of the SAPZ Phase 1 High Level Implementation Acceleration Dialogue and States Steering/Technical Committee Workshop on Wednesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SAPZ is an inclusive agro-industrialisation programme designed to create integrated, agriculturally focused platforms to accelerate private sector investment in value-added agro-processing.
The objective of the programme is to unlock opportunities for improved food security, job creation, import substitution and rural poverty reduction.
The project, which is government enabled and private sector driven, has as its components, infrastructure development and agro-industrial hubs management, agricultural productivity and production, as well as policy/institutional programme coordination and management.
Mr Murtala Dabo, Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Works, Housing and Transportation, said the state government had keyed into the SAPZ project to fast track its industrial development.
He said the priority value chain in the state under the project included maize, tomatoes and ginger.
He added that if the country was able to harness the potential in ginger, it would attract more foreign exchange to the country.
According to him, the SAPZ programme will help drive productivity, as primary producers will be supported to expand their production and ultimately achieve industrialisation through investment in value chain.
“Currently we import a lot of items that are not supposed to be imported. With SAPZ, smallholder farmers will have improved yields and productivity.
“The SAPZ industries will add value along the entire value chain and the benefit will be for the nation’s economy and smallholder farmers, because it will reduce import bills on food items,” he said.
Similarly, Mr Sadi Ibrahim, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kano State, said the state would abide by the project’s stipulated guidelines to achieve targeted goals within the timeframe.
“We are going to mobilise all our resources to ensure that the targets of the project are met within the shortest possible time.
“This workshop has gingered us to speed up the implementation of all our programmes by way of cutting bureaucracy to ensure that procurement and other aspects are carried out easily and as quickly as possible,” he said.
Mr Cosmas Maduba, Commissioner for Agricultural and Food Security, Imo, assured that his state assured would do everything possible to maximise the opportunities in the SAPZ project.
Maduba said the project commenced in Imo in 2019, but the state did not achieve the the desired result due to some bottlenecks.
He identified some of the challenges as lack of political will, understanding of its templates and benefits to the states and nation in general, project location and insecurity.
“Africa has a lot of opportunities in terms of climate situation that will promote agriculture.
“If we have all these raw materials we are eating and selling at the level we are currently, it may not have sufficient and adequate financial support to assist us,” said Maduka.
Cross River is also taking advantage of the SAPZ programme to upscale production through investments in processing facilities.
According to Mr Johnson Ebokpo, Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, Cross River, the state is prioritising value chain investments in cocoa, rice and cassava.
“Through the implementation of SAPZ in our state, we are in a position to scale up, so it is timely. The operational framework and guidelines are in place, we will now proceed with actual implementation.
“This kind of hub will go a long way to increase the speed with which we produce, and also we derive revenue from the value we have added,” he said.
Oyo State has also embraced the SAPZ initiative, for which Dr Debo Akande, Executive Adviser on Agribusiness and Professional Cooperation and Development to Oyo State Government, commended the initiators.
According to Akande, it is important to look at business dimension of agriculture, to have more values and support import substitution in the country.
“The best way to achieve this is agricultural industrialisation, which is one of the things we believe SAPZ is designed to achieve,” said Akande.
By Felicia Imohimi, NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA