Post-Harvest Mitigation Gains Traction as New Processing Hubs Open Across Nigeria

 Nigeria’s multi-pronged strategy to reduce post-harvest losses and drive domestic value-addition saw major progress this week with significant advancements at both state and federal levels.

In Anambra State, the government officially commissioned the Afrirootz processing facility in Akwaeze. The plant boasts an initial capacity of 15 tonnes per month and is engineered to process locally harvested cassava, yams, and sweet potatoes into export-grade organic flour. Local agricultural cooperatives have lauded the development, which guarantees a reliable off-taker market for smallholders whose perishable root crops frequently spoil before reaching urban consumers.

Concurrently, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security convened a critical strategy meeting in Abuja to accelerate the rollout of its Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) program. Funded through a joint framework involving the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the SAPZ initiative targets the establishment of fully integrated infrastructure zones.

The ministry emphasized that the long-term goal remains a definitive shift away from exporting raw agricultural commodities, building domestic processing clusters to shield the local economy from volatile global supply chain shocks.