FG Receives Final Report for $500m World Bank-Backed Agricultural Programme

The Federal Government has received the final report of the National Technical Working Group (NTWG) on the $500 million World Bank-supported Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains for Growth Programme (AGROW), formally bringing the programme's design phase to an end and paving the way for implementation.

Vice President Kashim Shettima received the report on Tuesday during a briefing at the State House, Abuja, describing the development as a major milestone in the Federal Government's efforts to reposition agriculture as a central driver of economic growth, food security and poverty reduction.

Shettima said the AGROW programme was designed to bridge the gap between farmers and national policy and planning, ensuring that agricultural interventions were grounded in the realities faced by producers across the country.

According to him, the programme seeks to shorten the distance between farmers who produce food and the systems that determine the value of their labour.

“Today marks the transition of AGROW from programme design to implementation,” the Vice President said, describing the final report as “the conclusion of a design process that restores the farmer to the centre of our national economic reasoning, where he has always belonged.”

The $500 million programme was developed following seven zonal consultations involving 32 states and key stakeholders in the agricultural sector.

The consultations, according to the Federal Government, reflected growing interest among subnational governments in taking greater responsibility for agricultural productivity, infrastructure, extension services and market development.

Shettima said the programme was designed to develop an agricultural model rooted in farmers' realities, delivered through the states and capable of attracting the private investment required to move the sector from subsistence production to commercial scale.

He noted that agriculture contributes about 23 per cent of Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product and provides livelihoods for approximately 34 per cent of the country's workforce, arguing that the sector could no longer be treated as a marginal component of the economy.

“When yields rise, food prices ease, rural incomes recover, industries receive raw materials, and the pressure on our cities and foreign reserves begins to relax,” he said.

“When yields fall, the entire economy discovers the price of hunger. Productivity on the farm is therefore a question of growth, employment, food security and poverty reduction. What we do to the farm, we do to the nation.”

The Vice President disclosed that $355 million, representing 71 per cent of the programme's $500 million financing envelope, would be implemented through participating states.

He said placing states at the centre of delivery was appropriate because agricultural activities ultimately take place within communities, local government areas and states.

However, Shettima cautioned that the financing envelope, while significant, would not be sufficient to address decades of accumulated gaps in extension services, infrastructure, technology, processing and market access.

“The appetite is evident. The resources are not yet sufficient,” he said.

The Vice President commended members of the National Technical Working Group for their expertise and commitment in developing the programme, saying the process brought together federal and state institutions, the private sector and development partners.

He subsequently accepted the final report and approved the formal dissolution of the technical working group, declaring that its mandate had been completed.

“Responsibility now passes to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, as Chair of the National Steering Committee and host of the Project Coordination Office,” he said.

Shettima also acknowledged the role of the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU), which coordinated the design process and served as secretariat to the technical working group.

Earlier, Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule said state governments remained committed to the initiative, recalling that the World Bank had previously briefed members of the Nigerian Governors' Forum on the programme's objectives.

Sule thanked the Vice President for providing the states with the opportunity to participate in shaping the initiative and assured him of the governors' support.

The Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Hadiza Balarabe, also expressed the state's readiness to participate fully in the programme, saying the government would establish a state-level coordination mechanism to facilitate timely implementation.

She disclosed that Kaduna had already allocated more than 13 per cent of its budget to agriculture, underscoring the sector's importance to the state's economic transformation agenda.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, described the presentation of the final report as a critical step towards implementation.

He said AGROW extended beyond food production, positioning the programme as an important component of Nigeria's broader economic transformation, macroeconomic stability and job creation efforts.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, commended Shettima for leading the mobilisation of stakeholders behind the initiative and described AGROW as a potentially transformative intervention in the agricultural sector.

Kyari assured stakeholders that his ministry would work to ensure successful implementation in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.

He said the completion of the technical working group's assignment had shifted attention to the next stage, which includes the borrowing plan, financing agreement and legal opinion required to complete the transition from project design to implementation.

World Bank Programme Leader for AGROW, Bertine Kamphuis, assured the Federal Government of the bank's continued support, saying the completion of the final report provided an opportunity to strengthen interventions aimed at improving food security and reducing poverty.

Kamphuis also stressed the need for stronger private-sector participation across Nigeria's agricultural value chains, alongside policies and an enabling environment that would encourage investment.

She noted that institutions such as the Bank of Agriculture would also have important roles to play in advancing the programme's objectives.

Technical Adviser to the Vice President on Agriculture and Executive Secretary of the PFSCU, Marion Moon, said the National Technical Working Group developed an eight-indicator framework to identify priority agricultural value chains.

She explained that the framework adopted an agro-ecological approach designed to match crops and investments with Nigeria's soil conditions, rainfall patterns and other growing conditions.

Moon added that the technical group conducted seven zonal consultations across 32 states and engaged key agricultural stakeholders, with feedback from the consultations incorporated into the final AGROW programme design.

The presentation of the final report to the Vice President marked the high point of the meeting and formally opened the way for the next phase of the $500 million World Bank-supported agricultural programme.