ATASP creates 120,000 Jobs – ADB

He made this known during a two-day Consultative Meeting organized by the National Programme for Food Security and the African Development Bank in Abuja.He said the African Development Finance will support the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the federal government with over N36.6 billion loan to finance the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme with more […]

He made this known during a two-day Consultative Meeting organized by the National Programme for Food Security and the African Development Bank in Abuja.
He said the African Development Finance will support the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the federal government with over N36.6 billion loan to finance the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme with more millions of dollars of aids from development partners, like World Bank, Indorama Fertilizer International Fund for Agriculture, and other international agencies.
Presenting the report of the bank, the bank’s Chief operations officer, Dr Patrick Agboma said the money will help create 120,000 jobs to complement the ATA 3.5 million jobs target of the federal government. He applauded the sincerity of the participating states for putting their heads together to tackle the problems facing agriculture in Nigeria, adding, “In spite of the huge potentials, Nigeria has to become one of the highest exporters of food crops in the world.”
“Key outcomes are significant additional incomes to an increased number of entrepreneurs in the sector by the creation of about 120,000 jobs along the value chain of the selected commodities; additional 20 metric tons of key commodity food crops added to domestic food supply per annum; and increase of 25% of average income of entrepreneurs along the value chain, especially for youths and women.
“The project will be funded through a loan by the African development Group (ADF) for UA 153.64 million (84.8%), the federal government of Nigeria will contribute UA 16.01 million (8.8 %,) states located in the processing zones UA 6.86 million (3.8%), and the beneficiaries for UA4.71 million or 2.6%. The beneficiaries include farmers and farmers’ cooperatives, processors, private sector operators including SMEs,” the report read in part.