Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is announcing over £60 million in funds for different projects centred on food security and the agricultural industry in Nigeria.
The aim of the supports is to make Nigeria’s agriculture sector more “climate resistant”, the UK government said.
As part of a four-day visit to the country, Cleverley announced a £10 million UK-backed facility in Nigeria in partnership with finance company InfraCredit in Lagos yesterday (Tuesday, August 1).
The aim of the facility is to unlock sustainable and climate-friendly infrastructure development projects.
Cleverley will then travel to Abuja today (Wednesday, August 2) to announce a £55 million Propcorn+ contract – a UK International Climate Finance programme.
The programme aims to enable the transformation of Nigeria’s rural economy by supporting four million people in Nigeria to adopt and scale-up sustainable agricultural practices
This includes improving the health of animals, making crops more resilient, and introducing cleaner cooking practices.
This in turn will help increase productivity, capacity and resilience among small-scale farmers and rural communities across Nigeria while reducing carbon emissions and protecting natural ecosystems, the UK government said.
It will be be further supported by a £2.89 million grant.
Nigerian agriculture
According to the UK government, more than two thirds of Nigeria’s population is dependent on agriculture for employment.
It hopes that this new funding will boost the country’s agricultural sector’s productivity and resilience to the impacts of climate change.
As a result, the UK government said it hopes the funding will initiate the transforming of Nigerian critical agriculture and food systems for the benefit of people, climate and nature.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said: “Nigeria has a booming population and the largest economy in Africa – there is huge potential for an even closer partnership between UK and Nigerian businesses which will be of mutual benefit to both countries.
“Together we are focussing on the future, putting in place green, clean measures, both in agriculture and infrastructure development, to create climate-resilient solutions for the global challenges we all face today and will increasingly face in the years to come.”
