USAID Projects Generate N2.4 Billion Revenue In Nigeria   
 

11th Dec 2007

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has disclosed that its partnership with over 50,000 small-scale farmers in Nigeria generated a gross revenue of N2.4 billion for farmers between 2006 and September 2007.

USAID had in recent years been working with Nigerian farmers to improve agricultural business through its strategy known as Maximising Agricultural for Revenues of Key Enterprises in Targeted Sites (MARKETS).
The Managing Director of USAID MARKETS, Dr Dick Cook, who disclose this at a news briefing in Abuja said that the revenue had resulted to the creation of more than 30,000 jobs.

Working in partnership with some agro-allied companies and the financial sector, MARKETS, had facilitated more than N600.6 million in investment and short-term credit for farmers within the period, Cook said.
According to him, MARKETS is working with a network of farmers in some states of the federation.
MARKETS has networked a total of over 50,000 small-scale farmers and other value chain actors in 15 of Nigeria's 36 states,'' he said.

The states are Benue, Ebonyi, Niger, Oyo, Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, Plataeu, Bauchi, Kwara, Edo, Bayelsa and Lagos. "To date, MARKETS has facilitated more than 20,000 commercial and Micro Finance Institution (MFI) loans and more than N620 million has been leveraged from agribusiness partners,'' Cook said. According to him, Nigeria has virtually all the necessary resources to transform its agricultural sector into an engine for broad-based economic growth. "What is lacking is a partnership platform, which promotes public private investment within a context of mutual risk management,'' he said.

Cook said that MARKETS was demonstrating with its partners and clients that the creation of such a platform was not only possible but that joint risk management was feasible. "Once this becomes an operational mindset, Nigeria will be well positioned to become a net exporter of both agricultural products and technologies throughout West Africa and beyond,'' he said.

MARKETS works with private sector partners like UAC, Olam Industries Limited and is about to go into partnership with Nestle Nigeria Plc.

MARKETS has been working with Nigerian farmers in five commodities which include rice, cowpea, sorghum, dairy, aquaculture or fish farming.

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