Mr. Richard-Mark Mbaram, the DG/CEO of the Feed Nigeria Summit (FNS), has emphasized that the SAPZ (Special Agro-Processing Zones) concept represents a crucial solution to address longstanding challenges within Nigeria’s agricultural ecosystem.
While delivery a presentation during the SAPZ Phase II Inception Workshop on Thursday in Abuja, He views SAPZ as a comprehensive solution that can drive substantial growth rates with a profound impact on the country.
He stated that Nigeria is facing a grave situation with approximately 71 million of its citizens living in extreme poverty, while an even larger number, 133 million Nigerians, are grappling with multidimensional poverty. “These figures are deeply concerning, and there is a need for immediate action.”
However, he believes that the Special Agro-Processing Zones (SAPZ) can play a pivotal role in transforming the agricultural sector, and sees the potential to drive the necessary advancements required to rebuild the country’s economy.
In his words, “The smallholder farmers as feeble as they appear are the strong line of our agricultural economy.
“The bulk of the food we produce are done by them so when you begin to see the challenges we are facing in the country around the spike in food prices and how it affects the smallholder farmers, its on that basis that the National Agriculture Growth Scheme seeks to support small holder farmers with subsidy oriented inputs across 6 commodity value chain, namely rice, wheat, soy, sorghum, maize and cassava and the SAPZ programme will also play a huge part,” he added.
