Nigeria’s government has raised more than $500 million to transform food production in Africa’s most-populous nation.
The funds come from sources including multilateral development banks and international financial institutions, Vice President Kashim Shettima said in a statement on Tuesday. The money will be used for “innovation finance for food system transformation, development of Nigeria’s agro value chain and special agro-industrial processing zones programmes,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration declared a state of emergency last week to allow the state to take exceptional steps to boost food security and supply, as the country of more than 200 million people grapples with inflation accelerating at the fastest pace in two decades. Measures being considered include clearing forests for farmland to boost agricultural output and ease food costs.
Read more: Surging Food Prices Spur Nigeria to Declare an Emergency
The government is also taking steps to improve security in the country, where a decade-long insurgency by Islamist militants and attacks by bandits have curbed farm output.
“The president has already approved the infusion of a huge quantum of funds towards repositioning of our security architecture,” Shettima said. “We are repositioning our security architecture to provide support for farms and farmers.”