FG moves to implementation of $500m World Bank-backed AGROW programme
The federal government has moved to the implementation phase of the $500 million World Bank-supported Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains for Growth (AGROW) Programme after receiving the final report of the National Technical Working Group that designed the initiative.
Vice President Kashim Shettima formally received the report on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, describing it as the conclusion of the programme’s design phase and the beginning of implementation aimed at boosting agricultural productivity, food security and private sector investment.
Shettima said the programme was designed to bridge the gap between farmers and national economic planning by placing agriculture at the centre of government policy.
“Today marks the transition of AGROW from programme design to implementation,” the Vice President said, noting that the initiative was developed through consultations across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones involving 32 states.
According to him, the programme is intended to create a framework rooted in farmers’ realities while enabling states to drive implementation and attract private investment needed to transform agriculture from subsistence to commercial scale.
He stressed that agriculture, which contributes about 23 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product and provides livelihoods for about 34 per cent of the workforce, should no longer be treated as a marginal sector.
“When yields rise, food prices ease, rural incomes recover, industries receive raw materials, and the pressure on our cities and foreign reserves begins to relax. When yields fall, the entire economy discovers the price of hunger,” he said.
Shettima disclosed that $355 million, representing 71 per cent of the programme’s financing, would be implemented through participating states, placing state governments at the centre of project delivery.
