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AfDB tasks Nigeria to lead Africa agric revolution ahead of its SAPZ forum

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AfDB, Bill Gates to inject $500m into sanitation in Africa

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has advised Nigeria to take up the task of leading Africa’s agricultural revolution.

The bank urged the government to take advantage of Africa’s potential to become a net exporter of agricultural commodities, replacing imports worth more than 110 billion dollars.

In a statement by its Communication and External Relations Department, AfDB said the agribusiness sector in Africa as the next ‘’pil sector’’ woth a projection of reaching one trillion dollars by 2030.

It noted that, Nigeria was in a position to provide the leadership needed to harness these opportunities.

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The bank also added that Nigeria only needed to take advantage of its vast agricultural resources and existing drive to transform its subsistence agriculture economy into a major global player.

It, however, noted that its forum, Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) scheduled for April 30 in Abuja would discuss agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential in order to increase productivity and competitiveness.

“The bank, together with its development partners is investing heavily in these projects in order to rapidly scale up agricultural production.

“The initiative will be the result of strong public and private sector partnerships. The innovative Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones initiative will provide millions of young rural men and women with unprecedented employment and entrepreneurship opportunities,” it added.

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