Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ): A catalyst for Africa’s industrial revolution

Africa remains a continent of interests, interesting peoples and natural endowments of huge commercial value which if well-harnessed and the revenue accruing from such judiciously put into use for the benefit of the people, the continent will be one of the very best among the comity of continents of the world.

Of course, one does not need to wear a refractive lens to see clearly that the continent, which is yet to fulfil its manifest destiny despite its potential for greatness, is still bedeviled with humongous challenges of underdevelopment, food insecurity, poverty and economic stagnation.

Be that as it may, the opportunities for organic growth and all-encompassing industrial development on the continent are huge once the right leadership is emplaced across the various countries that make up the continent. As development experts have continued to posit, getting the right leadership in any organization or society is a necessity for development to take place.

That said, one of the endowments the African continent is blessed with is the vast expanse of arable land suitable for industrial-scale agriculture traversing the entire African landscape. Of truth, it is said that 60 percent of the world’s arable land is domiciled in Africa. Yet, most African countries import food from abroad running into trillions of dollars on an annual basis. What an appalling contradiction! A continent so blessed yet so poor!

Despite the availability of arable land, cheap labour and other allied factors, agriculture on the continent remains mostly at the subsistence level with commercial farming, still, a long way to go. That is, agriculture has still not been industrialized on the continent as opposed to what’s obtainable in North America, Europe, South America, among others. It is little wonder, therefore, that food insecurity and youth unemployment are two of the biggest afflictions ailing the continent.

Well, the long wait for the revitalization of agriculture on the continent may just be overdue to a novel intervention from the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the dynamic and visionary leadership of its President, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina.

The AfDB in collaboration with its development partners has set up what is now called Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs). The essence of SAPZs is to catalyze agricultural development on the continent through industrialization. The program contends that once agriculture is placed on a sound footing, food insecurity will be a thing of the past as multiple jobs will be created for the teeming youths. Apart from self-sufficiency in food, the continent will be able to export enough to generate income that will be utilised to drive other developmental projects once SAPZs are properly implemented.

The SAPZ initiative, according to its promoters, is targeting to make Africa a net food exporter by 2025, by raising Africa’s 2015 food production by an estimated 174 million metric tons. Through the scheme, AfDB is set to revitalize and re-invigorate African agriculture through its Feed Africa-High 5 which focuses on 18 priority commodities across the five major agro-ecological zones of Africa.

My readers may ask: what are these Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs)? To answer your question, SAPZs are agro-based spatial development initiatives, designed to concentrate agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential, to boost productivity and integrated production, processing and marketing of agricultural commodities.

Besides, they are purposely built and shared facilities to enable agricultural producers, processors, aggregators and distributors to operate in the same vicinity, reduce transaction costs and share business development services for increased productivity and competitiveness. That’s a sort of cluster that will promote interdependence, enhance productivity and competitiveness.

Also, by bringing adequate infrastructure (energy, water, roads and ICT) to rural areas, SAPZs attract investments from private agro-industrialists/entrepreneurs and contribute to the social and economic development of rural areas. They are also located in peri-urban areas to reduce rural-urban migration.

Again, another question: What will SAPZs achieve? First off, SAPZs seek to promote increased productivity, value addition, market access and private sector investment in select agricultural value chain commodities.

It also prioritizes the development of agro-industrial activities and leverages existing and private sector investments and takes advantage of existing infrastructure assets. Aside from that, the program is designed to enhance complementarity with existing or completed projects financed by the AfDB, including those in the power, transport, water and agriculture sectors.

Since launching the SAPZ initiative, the AfDB has participated in various phases of agro-industrialization activities in several African countries, including Ethiopia and Togo, with approved operations in Guinea, Mali and Senegal while feasibility studies are currently underway in Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia.

Several other countries have also shown interest in the SAPZ model, including South Africa, Mauritius, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Egypt.

Coming home, the Nigerian government, whose principal desire is to diversify the economy, has keyed into the program. Already, the AfDB and its partners are to mobilize $520million for the implementation of Phase 1 of the initiative in Nigeria.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and seven other states, namely; Kaduna, Imo, Cross River, Ogun and Oyo are the states earmarked to participate in Phase 1 of the project. Several other states have also indicated an interest in the SAPZ program. These include Bauchi, Lagos, Niger, Jigawa, Ekiti, Lagos, Niger, Jigawa, Ekiti, Taraba, Benue, Sokoto, Ondo, Nasarawa, Gombe and Kogi.

In domesticating the initiative, the Nigeria SAPZ program consists of four mutually reinforcing components: infrastructure development and agro-industrial hubs management, agriculture productivity and production, policy and institutional development and program coordination and management.

Essentially, all 36 states of the federation and the FCT are eligible to participate in the program whose focus is on the promotion of commodities that have a high potential to boost export revenues or import substitution. In Nigeria, the SAPZs will build priority value chains by establishing infrastructure in rural areas, to finish and transform raw materials and commodities.

In totalizing this intervention, it must be stated again and again that Africa remains a potentially great continent. But the greatness will not be actualized on a silver plate. It will take brain and brawn, harmonization of resources, efforts and cross-collaboration among its diverse peoples. This is what SPAZs via the AfDB is going to spur in collaboration with other growth-promoting interventions.