Inter-ministerial process to boost food value chain commences 

In a bold move to check post-harvest losses in Nigeria, the Federal Government has launched an initiative that would enhance the safe movement of produce from farms to the markets or warehouses.

The initiative known as the Secured Agricultural Commodity Transport and Storage Corridor ( SATS-C) is an inter-ministerial and private sector driven response involving the ministries of Trade, Investment and Industry, Transportation, Works and Housing, Agriculture, Interior, Finance, Budget and National Planning as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The ministries are working through the Nigerian Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), which acts as coordinator and lead executor of the programme.

Already, NIRSAL has offered to provide up to 75 per cent guarantee for all investments in the SATS-C scheme to encourage investors’ participation.

The initiative is in line with NIRSAL mandate to fix broken agricultural value chains and increase the flow of finance into the sector. The move is expected to combat post-harvest losses, create jobs and boost the contribution of the agriculture sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Ministries involved joined at the weekend to host an interactive meeting for all the stakeholders.

At the interactive session, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Richard Adeniyi, presented the SATS-C initiative to participants. He sued for the continued commitment of ministries with related mandates for the successful implementation of the proposed policy document.

The team members are preparing to execute a common Client Service Charter that will enforce adherence to agreed rules and standards to accelerate the project.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, NIRSAL’s Managing Director/CEO, Aliyu Abdulhameed, said the Ministry of Industry, Trade and investment’s commitment to SATS-C has boosted his hope. He believes that a fully operational SATS-C policy could lead to a five per cent increase in the agriculture sector’s contribution to GDP by halving the post-harvest losses put at $12 billion yearly.