The African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed $86 million to the implementation of Nigeria’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones Programme as of March 31. This marks a major milestone in the efforts to drive agro-industrial development and strengthen agricultural value chains.
This was disclosed on Wednesday in Abuja during the Mid-Term Review Meeting of the SAPZ Programme. Dr Orison Amu, Implementation Support Manager at the AfDB’s Nigeria Country Department, represented by the programme’s Task Manager Bernard Onzima, said the programme has recorded a commitment rate of 41 percent and a disbursement rate of 12 percent, equivalent to $25 million, with commitments expected to rise to 70 percent and disbursements to 35 percent by the end of 2026.
The first phase of Nigeria’s SAPZ programme, approved in December 2021, experienced implementation delays and became operational in March 2023, achieving the requirements for its first disbursement in August of the same year.
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Amu explained that the programme is structured around agricultural production clusters where farming, aggregation, processing, and distribution activities are concentrated within designated zones supported by modern infrastructure, designed to stimulate investment across agricultural value chains, improve linkages between producers and processors, and support broader economic transformation through climate-resilient infrastructure and industrial development.
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