Islamic Bank invests $267m in Nigeria

…As 5,000 farmers benefit from $90m Kano agric project

Nizar Zaied, head of agriculture, water resources and rural development of the global practice at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), says the bank has invested a total of $267 million in Nigeria since 1975.

He said Nigeria has 7.33 percent of the total subscribed capital, making it one of the major shareholders of the bank. Zaied stated this at a high-level workshop on agricultural transformation and what works: Reflections from the crop value chain of the Kano State Agropastoral Development Project, which began on Monday, October 7-8, 2024 in Kano, state Nigeria.

Recalling that Nigeria became a member of IsDB in November 1999, Zaied informed that the IsDB Group had approved approximately $2.1 billion in financing for Nigeria.

“This includes $1.1 billion in project financing by IsDB. One of the most recent approvals was in March 2024, for the Abia State Integrated Infrastructure Development Project for $94 million.

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“As a matter of fact, since its start of operations in 1975, the Bank has invested a total of $8.7 billion for the agriculture sector in its member countries, including $267 million in Nigeria”, he said.

The subject of the workshop was not only important for Kano State and Nigeria but also for the entire African continent: How can agriculture and ultimately achieve food security be transformed?

“The current situation is quite sobering, I should say: our continent spent $43 billion on food imports in 2019, which is expected to grow to $110 billion in 2025. The continent’s agriculture remains generally inefficient, with average yields from cereals being half those of India and a fifth of those of the US, for example.

This is coming while Africa has 60 percent of the world’s available arable land and a growing young population to work it. He said to bring a change, Africa must adopt improved varieties of seeds and smart use of fertilisers.

Meanwhile, Abba Kabir Yusuf, the governor of Kano State, had informed that a total of 5,348 farmers can now boast of a 100 percent yield increase in target crops under the crop value chain of the Kano State Agropastoral Development Project (KSADP), funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLC), Kano State government and implemented by Sassakawa Africa Association, Nigeria.

Represented by Aminu Abdulsalam Gwarzo, the deputy governor, he said “Worth $90m, the KSADP aims to transform smallholder farming into commercially viable businesses by developing commodity value chains in order to reduce rural poverty, food insecurity and unemployment.

“Under this project, 3,962 jobs were created, 1,465 contract sprayers and 1,826 agro dealers linked to communities were engaged, 854 extension agents were trained, 220 motorcycles distributed and 385 tablets distributed to extension agents to aid data collection among others