ECDNDMICWATCH ~3 BUSINESSDAY: www.businessdayonline.com
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Wednesday 28 March 2012
Boosting agric sector research through improved financing f ...As AIDB grants $63m soft loan to lilA
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IHEANYI NWACHUKW\)
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lnandns Nigeria and other African countries' agri culture rr:mains a challenge for Internal.lonal organisations, 8OYftJImenl5, the prfvatesector. and other deve:lopmenl
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CUlofthepoBcylstoesmbHsh • system of 5Ulta1nable agrfcWtunI1 financing schemes, programmes and Institutions that could provide mkm and macro credil fDCillde:s for the small, medium and large.scale producers. processors and marketers.
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Recent evidence ~ts that le5.!I than I percent of available domesl.lc private sector finandng typically goes Into agriculture,in spite of the widely acknowledged £act that agriculture employs at least -ro peromt of Africa's labour force and the seelor Is the continent's ea)oomJc UfolJne. Moreover, some sources estimate thai Mrica would need between S32 bIllion and $39 billion annually to achJeve the full economic potential of Its fann sector. Othe.... approximate that additional invesunen15 of al leas!: $21 bUUon annually (indudlnsS7bn from the: public sector) ~ needed by subSohao>n AIrlca (SSA)"""rul· turaI sector II the ~on is to meet the targets for reducing poverty and the numbeB of the malnouobh<d. In N1ge:rla for Instance. 88' ric policy ~ Ihe:vitaI role of agricuItw1! financing In attairtlna:'the much desired
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Amld'''''_~ low level of funds are
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available for actMties conntIered vhul for promoting agricullwal growth. such as bask: and applied agricuInuaI ~ agricultural e::uenllion and capacity building. and agrlcullural credit and lrrlgatton devclopmenL Many sc:hool5 of thought have noted that the ~wI of agrIcultun:wIU ""I~IIweD.. thought.oul national pro· gramme thai wUl ~ mauI\o1: private ln~enl and rural in&utructure lib acceSIroacb. ~ stontgl!! racmdes. farm e:xtenskm ser· vices. and housing. among
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Reporu have lodlcaled how Nigeria', agrlcuhurai d~lopment II constrained by the Iackofaccess tocredh
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Dlsburwment of Credit undet' the Commercial Agriculture CredU Scheme (CACS) November 2011 .
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TOTAl for the: pl'edomlnanlly smallbolder Carmen. Efforl.!i by successive govemmenls to address the problem have bun largely unlulXessfuJ. Commercial banks In tbe country perceive agrlcu1tural financing 10 be hIghrisk. The Central Bank of Nigeria II maldng efforts at de- risking the sector and encoW1lglng banks 10 lend 10ranneR.
The need to address chaI· Ienges facing this crlllcal!eClOr ba5 oootinued 10 occupy programmes of not only the govenment but that ofinle:!"-
Very lovv level of funds are available for activities considered vital for promoting agricultulill growth, such as basic and applied agricultulill research, agricultulill extension and capacity building, and agricultulill credit and irrigation development
national organisations like the African Development Bank (AIDB). evldenced in Its loan gnmts particularly to awic sectOr raean:h. Recently, the AIDB and the IntmwtlonaJ lnsdtute of Tropk:a.J. Agriculture (UTA) signed a grant agree:me:nl for $63 miIDoo ID fwxia multinational pmjea titied "Support to Agricultural Re:searcb for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC), and the lITA,lhe aim of the. grant from the African Dew:!opment Fund, the. AfDD Group concessional or 'soft loan' ann is to develop the wlue chains of four of the sU:: strategic crops: rice:, cassava,. maize and wheat. TIu:y were derUled by the Comprehensive AfrlcanAgricuiturBI ~ ment Programme (CAADP) InA_ The proJect will be lmplemellled by three AfrIca-based centres of the Multinational Consultative Group on InlemalionaJ Agricultural Research (CGIAR).These:aJt! AInca Rk::e Ce:nrre (MI1caRice) and the international Centre for Agricultural Research In the Dry Areas (lCARDA). The five -year multinational proJcclls upected 10 contrlbute toward.! address· Ing the curren! ahonfaliin food supply on the conti· nenl.lhb projeacomes at a
time when food securltyand nuu-itlon are high on the International and nadonal agenda of African countries, .. rising food prices push mlllloru of people Into extreme poverty, It allows. for the first time, In a single project, AfrIca-wide coverage: of etfont 10 tackle food security challenges. The project's spedfic: ab· jectM: is to enhance: the pro-ductlvity and Income from these four value chains on a sustainable basis. The project bas four componenls:
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lnnovadoru generation; agriculturalte:chnologk't and lnnOViltiOns dissemination; capadty bulIding. and pmjea management. The key project outaJmes are: 20 pen;enl yield ~ In cassava, malu, rice and wheat; II 60 percent InC[~ase In theaverage anllual bouse· hold cash Income of $370, and a 20 pe:n:enl lnaease 10 food .security to 114 percent at the end of the: proJect's five.
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The project: of the Multi· national Consultative Group on Inlernadonal Agricul tural Research was signed by Abdlrahman BeUeh. acting director of the depanmem operations In agrlcullull! at the AlDO, and Nleranya Sanginga. the !ITA.'s director
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