The Nigerian Senate has approved a €995 million loan to kick off the Green Imperative Agricultural Mechanization Programme. The loan will be sourced from the Export-Import Bank of Brazil (BNDES) and Deutsche Bank of Germany, guaranteed by the Islamic Development Bank.
The Green Imperative project is a Brazil-Nigeria initiative that aims to strengthen the agro-industrial sector, increasing production and boosting food security in Nigeria. It uses Brazilian technology for the development of agriculture mechanization. The initiative through an investment package will bring solution to Nigeria’s age long challenge of connecting the value chain in the agriculture sector.
The focus of the project is on the construction of power plants, training structures and agro-processing factories. Special interest areas also include acquisition of rural machinery such as tractors, drillers, seeders, cultivators, and harvesters. Specific crop interests include rice, cassava, cocoa, wheat, soya beans, maize, and tomatoes.
According to the government, the loan will fund 632 privately operated primary production mechanization service centres and 142 agro-processing service centres across 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria. The service centres will cover livestock agro commodities that are important to food security and trade.
The Green Imperative Programme will also create about 5 million jobs, train 100,000 extension workers, and positively impact over 35 million Nigerians in a 5-10 year period.
