The SAPZ Program And Its Benefit For Rural Cross Riverians

The SAPZ Program And Its Benefit For Rural Cross Riverians

By

Kingsley Agbor

Coneri Blog

SAPZ stands for Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones. This program is a flagship African Development Bank initiative. The idea behind this initiative is for the zones to bring together the production, processing, storage, transport, and marketing of farm produce. The program is a partnership between the Federal government and AfDB to turn the rural landscape into economic zones of prosperity and harnessing the power of commercial agriculture and food production.

Cross River State is one of the few states to benefit in the phase one of the SAPZ program and the people of Nde)Akparabong in Ikom LGA are lucky to have the zone sited in their community through the effort of a philanthropist per excellence, Chief Barr. Chris Agara Agam. In the first phase, only seven states and Abuja are beneficiaries. The zone in Nde/Akparabong, which will create a value chain in cocoa, rice, and cassava, will increase the household incomes of the villagers, foster job creation for the women and youths of the community, and enhance food and nutritional security in the host community and Cross River State at large.

Indeed, the host community have every reason to embrace this project as it has the propensity to expose the community to the international business world. It will also directly impact the people, changing their lives to one of prosperity. The benefits of the SAPZ program for Nde/Akparabong community can not be overemphasized. Some of the direct benefits to the community are:

1. The centres will be provided with basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and roads as well as facilities for skills training. Therefore, this will strengthen food security in Nde/Akparabong and boost farmer income because of the construction of accessible roads for farm produce to reach industries or international markets.

2. Small-holder farmers (that is, local Nde/Akparabong farmers) in the catchment areas will be linked to international markets across the value chain.

3. Jobs will be created for Nde/Akparabong youths and women during the construction and operational phases. 

4. It is expected that over 400,000 jobs will be created by MSMEs’ along the value chain. Also expected are thousands of factory jobs created by the tenant industries in the Agro Industrial Hubs.

5. The program will basically support farmer households in Nde/Akparabong through the promotion of Agro industry. The support to farmers will also be through periodic financing.

The SAPZ program is basically an agricultural empowerment scheme for rural dwellers. The program is geared towards raising the income of local farmers, eliminate unemployment, especially youth joblessness, reduce food import bill to the barest minimum and reduce prices of high-value food products. This is a very interesting project and a welcome development that will help to develop Nde/Akparabong and neighboring rural communities, introduce local farmers to the global market, foster job creation and many more.