Some agriculture commissioners have emphasized the need for Nigeria to stop exporting raw agricultural produce in order to gain maximum value from the sector.
Addressing journalists on the sidelines of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones Programme (SAPZ-1) High-level Implementation Acceleration dialogue, Kano State Commissioner of Agriculture, Danjuma Mahmud, called for the establishment of agro-industrial hubs to achieve food sufficiency and improve Nigeria’s economy.
He called for value addition as a crucial step towards industrialization, noting that processing agricultural produce locally would boost the economy and empower farmers across the country.
According to Mahmud, one of the primary goals is to ensure that crops like ginger, which Kaduna State produces in abundance, are processed to extract oil and resin, which would increase their value. He lamented that Nigeria exports ginger, cocoa, and other crops in their raw forms, thus missing out on the economic benefits of processing these products domestically.
“Take Kaduna, for instance. We are the largest producers of ginger, mostly for export, but we export it raw, either dry or fresh. When we establish these agro-industrial hubs, industries will be able to extract ginger oil and oil resin, which will bring far more value to the country and to the farmers,” Mahmud explained.
He further highlighted the same issue with cocoa in the southwest, stressing the need to develop industries that would allow Nigeria to benefit fully from its agricultural value chains.
He noted that the establishment of these hubs would also help address Nigeria’s high import bills on food items, adding that the country has no reason to import many of the food products currently being brought in. Mahmud believes that as industries become operational, smallholder farmers will benefit as their productivity increases and the industries absorb their produce, leading to a strengthened agricultural value chain. “We have no business importing most of these things,” Mahmoud remarked.
According to him, when these agro-industrial hubs become operational, they will help reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported food items, boost foreign exchange earnings, and enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
Speaking on the steps being taken to achieve these objectives, Mahmud indicated that discussions during the workshop had focused on overcoming the challenges that have slowed the process. “We have discussed most of the bottlenecks, and we’ve agreed on an accelerated model. I am confident we will begin to see results in record time. In the next few years, we will be where we hope to be,” he said.
In his remarks, Chief Cosmas Maduba, the Imo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, provided insights into his state’s role in the SAPZ initiative. He revealed that Imo State had been part of the program since its inception in 2019 and had faced certain challenges that delayed the full implementation of the project. According to Maduba, one of the primary obstacles was the location initially chosen for the project, which lacked sufficient land and posed security risks.
“We originally localized our base in the Okinwa zone, but as we progressed, we realized the size of the land was not enough, and there were security concerns. We decided to move the project to a place where we have full control of the environment and sufficient land for the project to succeed,” Maduba explained. Despite the delays, he noted that recent site inspections by officials from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other stakeholders had given a positive assessment of the new location, and he expected the project to proceed smoothly from here on.
He further underscored the importance of ensuring compliance with the established procedures and templates to access necessary funds and resources for the SAPZ projects. Maduba pointed out that some states had faced difficulties in following the outlined conditionalities, which had slowed the process. However, he expressed confidence that the adjustments discussed during the workshop would enable states to move forward with the project without further delays.
Maduba also stressed the need to avoid the politicization of such initiatives, warning that political interference often derails critical projects like the SAPZ. “We’ve been seriously advised to remove any aspect of politics from this process so that we can achieve the project’s aim,” he said.
He called for continued collaboration among the federal government, states, and the private sector to ensure the success of the SAPZ initiative.
Maduba further expressed optimism that the adjustments made during the workshop would pave the way for the full implementation of the project in his state, contributing to the overall industrialization of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.