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By Nurudeen Alimi
In a bid to develop an effective strategy for improved agriculture and food markets, Nigeria and France recently signed a grant agreement of €1.2 million.
The agreement was signed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, the Country Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Director of International Relations of the French company, Semmaris.
According to a statement from the French Embassy in Nigeria, the AFD grant will finance a one-year technical assistance programme to assist the FMARD in the design of a national agriculture and food market development strategy.
Also, the one-year study, which is to commence from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, will look at the whole value chains market ecosystem from rural to urban areas, with a particular focus on the three largest urban consumption areas in Nigeria, including, Lagos-Ibadan, Kano-Kaduna and Owerri-Port-Harcourt.
The statement added that the study will result in an inventory of existing agricultural markets, an in-depth analysis of current distribution channels and agrifood logistics, a legal and regulatory framework adapted to market development, and technical recommendations to rehabilitate or build three terminal markets. The programme will be implemented by the French company, Semmaris with the support of the Federal Project Management Unit (FPMU) of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) within the FMARD. Semmaris has been managing for over 50 years the largest wholesale fresh food market worldwide in Rungis, France.
According to the statement, the Rungis Market brings together over 1,200 companies from various segments of the food value chains. This initiative will build on the 10-year intervention of the World Bank and AFD in the rural development sector in Nigeria through the “Rural Access and Mobility Project” (RAMP) achieved in 2021, and the on-going “Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project” (RAAMP) (2020-2028) co-financed by AFD and World Bank for a total investment of €700 million including $296 million from AFD.
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