FG, has mobilised $500 million for creative, profitable, equitable, and sustainable food system reform efforts in the country, according to a statement released by Shettima Kashim.
Sen. Kashim Shettima made the announcement on the first day of the Food Systems Summit in Rome, Italy.
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The Vice President stated in a message on his social media handle that the funds were obtained “through domestic resources, multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, climate funds, and leading agro-businesses”.
He also stated that they would be used for “Innovation finance for food system transformation and development of Nigeria’s agro value chain, and Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones programmes.”
He made use of the occasion to launch the VCDP, a collaboration between the government, private players, and food producers to the attendees at the summit.
“The VCDP, which is co-funded by Nigeria and IFAD, has empowered vulnerable farmers and youth to enter into commercial partnerships with some of the world’s largest food processing and marketing firms, such as OLAM, a world-leading agri-business company operating in over 60 countries with an annual revenue of about $39.8 billion,” he said.
In his remarks, the Vice-President emphasised FG’s commitment to ending hunger and increasing rural farmers’ capabilities through special processing zones.
He stated that the agro-processing zones “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 leave no one behind.”
Speaking on the Tinubu administration’s efforts to solve the country’s macroeconomic malaise, he referred to the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the currency exchange market as “two albatrosses around our necks.”
The Vice President spoke on the administration’s palliative measures by the FG to mitigate the impact of the changes on Nigerians.
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“We withdrew the petrol subsidy from day one, just like President Ruto did in Kenya,” he said.
To minimise the effects of the subsidy termination, the government began releasing grains and fertilisers immediately.
