African Development Bank (AfDB) has shown the willingness to support Ogun State Government as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed on the establishment of a Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) programme, to enhance food and nutrition security activities in the State.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kunle Somorin, in a statement, stated that the move was as a result of a meeting which took place at the AFDB Secretariat in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and had in attendance Governors of Ogun, Kaduna, Oyo, and Imo State, Dapo Abiodun, Nasir El-Rufai, Seyi Makinde, and Hope Uzodima respectively whose States had been listed to benefit from the first round of funding under the programme.

The statement indicated that the SAPZ would be located at the Gateway Agro-Cargo Airport, Ilishan-Remo in Ikenne Local Government Area of the State, to support smallholder farmers and other key actors for increased agricultural productivity.

  It added that the programme would further ensure job creation through agricultural value chain development in crop, aquaculture, core livestock sectors, as well as service provision initiatives, saying it aligns with the economic and agricultural development agenda and activities of the Prince Dapo Abiodun led administration.

According to the statement, Governor Abiodun said the SAPZ would help Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) develop cargo industrialisation through innovative linkages of primary producers to the industrial process, export promotion/diversification, and leveraging on local, national, regional, and international trade advantages including African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA).

"The World Bank/Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) which targets 40,000 smallholder farmers in nine priority value chains; cassava, maize, rice, soya beans, tomatoes, pepper, sesame, fishery, and poultry, as well as government policy of mandatory support to agricultural value chain actors and support to smallholder farmers for productivity and inclusiveness in the new focus for agriculture, I have no doubt that the AfDB programme will yield the desired result", he stated.

Abiodun assured that his administration would further deepen its commitment to supplementary support for SAPZ infrastructures for the Agro-industrial hub for land and related facilities in addition to the Cargo airport in the vicinity, noting that "infrastructural support will be extended and enabling environment will also be provided to Agricultural Transformation Centres (ATCs) and Aggregation Centres".

Prince Abiodun said the State was determined to harness the opportunities in the programme for the benefits of the people, industries, rural communities and all food production and processing locations, pointing out that the State had reviewed its agricultural policy, made advisory support (extension) for Agricultural Value chain operators, prioritised youth involvement in Agriculture and signed an Executive Order for the New Framework for Responsive and Inclusive Land Intensive Agriculture (FRILIA) to facilitate smooth implementation and sustainability of the SAPZ programme in the State.