The Vice President Kashim Shettima has disclosed that the Federal Government is ready to change the Nigeria’s food system and agro value chain proposing over $500m through domestic resources, multilateral development banks, and international financial institutions.

Shettima revealed this in a meeting on the opening of the United Nations Food Systems Summit in Rome, Italy by the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guteress.

The vice president disclosed that the fund would be used for “innovation finance for food system transformation; development of Nigeria’s agro value chain and Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones programmes”.

Shettima added that, “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 co-funded 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.”

the VP stressed that “building on the success of the VCDP, the Federal Government is determined to capacitate Nigeria’s rural smallholders and operators, youth and women living below the poverty line to take advantage of the new Special Processing Zones.”

Speaking on the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), Vice President Shettima said it “brings together local governments, IFAD, AfDB, IsDB, GCF, OLAM and other private actors alongside the government of Nigeria for transformative financing of food systems that leaves no-one behind.”