Kaduna State Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones- SAPZ Project
The Nigeria Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Project is a government enabled and private sector led effort that seeks to mobilize private sector investment into the selected zones. The Program is being supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), together with the Nigerian Government (Federal and States).
The SAPZ Program was launched in Nigeria on 24th October 2022, with Kaduna State being among seven (7) other states: Cross Rivers, Imo, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where Phase I of the project will be implemented.
SAPZs are integrated development initiatives designed to concentrate agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential to boost productivity, integrate production, processing and marketing of selected commodities. It will enable agricultural producers, processors and aggregators as well as distributors to operate in the same vicinity to reduce transaction costs and share business development services for increased productivity and competitiveness.
The program’s development objective is to support inclusive and sustainable agro-industrial development, while the program goal is to increase household income, foster job creation in rural agricultural communities, especially for youths and women and enhance food and nutritional security in Nigeria.
In Kaduna state, the selected crops of comparative advantage for value chains addition are maize, ginger and tomatoes and the program will cover LGAs of Kaduna State located around the Agricultural Transformation Centre (ATC) located in Dusten Wai, Kubau LGA and the Agro-Industrial Hub (AIH) located in Chikun LGA, along the Kaduna-Abuja Road.
The SAPZ program is part of the Feed Arica strategy launched by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to transform agriculture into a globally competitive, inclusive and business oriented sector – one that creates wealth, generates gainful employment and improves quality of life, development of world-class infrastructure, supporting an economic environment that supports the private sector, especially by reducing transactional costs of doing business and, the enablement of all areas of society to benefit from available economic opportunities.
