The overall development objective of the SAPZ program is two fold: (1) support the development of SAPZ in high food production areas to supply the domestic food market and create exportable surpluses; and (2) capacitate smallholder farmers, small agroprocessors and traders, and community-based service providers, including women and youth, to take advantage of the market demand created by the SAPZ to sustainably enhance their income, household food security, and resilience to climate change. 

Components: The program has four broad components, namely:

Component 1: Infrastructure Development and Management for Agro-Industrial Hubs.

Component 2: Agricultural Productivity, Production, Market Linkages, and Value Addition in SAPZ Catchment Areas.

Component 3: Policy and Institutional Development Support, and

Component 4: Program Coordination and Management. 

IFAD comparative advantage: Complementing AfDB and IsDB’s support, the FGN and IFAD will work on climate-resilient agricultural production and supply of agricultural products. That is, linking smallholders, small agro-processors and traders to larger agro-processing firms operating in the value chain.

By bringing in IFAD on the supply side, the FGN aims to empower smallholders and small operators to take advantage of the new market outlets and employment opportunities generated by the SAPZs, capitalizing on the successful market-based climate resilient value-chain model developed with FMAFS in the Value Chain Development Program (VCDP), which links smallholders to large agro-processors for the sale of their produce. The SAPZ program will capitalize on the VCDP model to support smallholder farmers and smallscale agro-processors to take advantage of the new markets created by the SAPZ.

More details about the SAPZ project is available on IFAD’s website

You can also visit SAPZ’s official website for details on implementation progress and other project’s documents