Vice President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria has mobilised over $500m for innovative, profitable, equitable and sustainable food systems transformation initiative.
He said this while chairing a high-level meeting on the first day of the UN Food Systems Summit declared open in Rome, Italy, by the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, Antonio Guteress.
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He said the funds were mobilised “through domestic resources, multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, climate funds leading agro-businesses.”
He said the funds would be used for “innovation finance for food system transformation; development of Nigeria’s agro value chain and Special AgroIndustrial Processing Zones programmes.”
He said, “in this event, the Government of Nigeria will be showcasing its Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) as a unique example of a successful partnership between producers, the public sector and private operators.”
“The VCDP which is cofunded by the of Nigeria and IFAD has empowered vulnerable farmers and youth to engage into commercial partnerships with some of the biggest food processing and marketing firms in the world such as OLAM, a world leading agri-business company operating in over 60 countries with an annual revenue of about $39.8 billion”.
On removing impediments to economic recovery, he said: “we had two albatrosses around our necks: subsidy on petrol and multiple exchange rates system.”
Daily Trust
