In a bid to strengthen regional integration, facilitate cross-border agricultural trade, and expand opportunities for micro-small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), the National Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has partnered with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).<\/p>\n
At the launch of NACCIMA activities under the ECOWAS Agricultural Trade Programme themed: \u201cStrengthening ECOWAs Agricultural Market to Drive Food Security and Regional Prosperity,\u201d NACCIMA President, Jani Ibrahim noted that agriculture continues to play a critical role in Nigeria\u2019s economy, adding that in Q4 2024, the sector contributed about 24.64% to GDP. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith the recent GDP rebasing, the share of agriculture in national output has risen. Early 2025 estimates show agriculture\u2019s share of GDP at around 27.8%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ibrahim, however, noted that despite its large role in the economy and its sustenance of livelihoods, Nigeria\u2019s agricultural exports remain modest.<\/p>\n
He disclosed that it is against this backdrop that the EAT Project and NACCIMA\u2019s role take on special relevance. He said that for NACCIMA, this initiative aligns perfectly with the association\u2019s mandate to empower the private sector, promote enabling policies, and strengthen export competitiveness. <\/p>\n
\u201cThrough this project, we intend to address longstanding bottlenecks that hinder trade through the capacity building of traders and SMEs within the agribusiness value chain, enabling them to meet requirements for regional markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy unlocking the potential of regional agricultural trade, we are not just moving goods; we are unlocking livelihoods, creating value, deepening regional economic integration, and contributing to food security for millions across West Africa. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunities are enormous, with Nigeria\u2019s burgeoning population and rising urban demand, ECOWAS\u2019s vast markets, and the dynamism of our private sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we must also recognise the challenges: infrastructure gaps, limited access to finance, weak value-chain linkages, and non-tariff barriers. This is why a coordinated effort under the EAT Project, with NACCIMA as a central private-sector anchor, is so critical.<\/p>\n
The NACCIMA boss applauded GIZ and ECOWAS, its development partners, for entrusting NACCIMA with the responsibility.<\/p>\n
He noted that the partnership promises stronger agricultural value chains, better market access, enhanced trade in food and agro-products, and a more vibrant role for the private sector in shaping regional trade in West Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the Director General, NACCIMA, Sola Obadimu, agriculture remains a major pillar of Nigeria\u2019s economy, contributing about one-quarter of its GDP and supporting millions of livelihood
\nObadimu noted that yet, despite the vast potential, the nation\u2019s agricultural export earnings remain below expectation, even as the wider ECOWAS region with a population of over 400 million people continues to offer huge untapped market opportunities.<\/p>\n
The DG pointed out that the EAT Project is therefore timely, as it strengthens the collective effort to boost intra-regional agricultural trade, improve standards, remove non-tariff barriers, and support SMEs to participate more competitively in regional value chains. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor NACCIMA, this intervention aligns strongly with our mandate to promote trade, support private-sector competitiveness, and deepen regional integration.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder this project, NACCIMA will lead a series of activities focused on capacity building and improving access to market information. Our aim is simple: to ensure that Nigerian agribusinesses are better positioned to take advantage of opportunities within the ECOWAS market and contribute meaningfully to national and regional growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Arne Schuffenhauver,
\nProgram Lead, GIZ- EAT, the programme is funded by the German government, implemented in partnership with the ECOWAS Commission, and with many other partners in five countries, of which Nigeria is one of them<\/p>\n
Schuffenhauver said ECOWAS trade is one of the biggest markets for food products in West Africa. <\/p>\n
He noted that the GIZ partnered NACCIMA because the association gives services to members and non-members on how to better access markets, how to trade, and how to go through inspections and customs in an efficient way.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo NACCIMA is a strategic partner for us, noting that the EAT project is important to really accelerate trade with food products. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo the benefit is knowledge, access to information, access to markets, to promote these businesses of smaller, medium enterprises, also youth and women.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that for the moment, cross-border trade is not recognized as a huge business because the narrative at the moment is that it’s too small to invest and defragmented. <\/p>\n
The project lead, GIZ-EAT, said the cross-border food trade is a big business of 10 billion dollars. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo it means there’s a lot of opportunities. There are still challenges for small and medium traders to really invest, to have access to finance, to cross the borders without any obstacles. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo there’s also other solutions that we support, like small infrastructure, cool stores, solar-powered cool stores, even very simple aspects like transporting a product from a market to the next destination, so across the border with tricycles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these small business cases are important to show policy makers that there are solutions and these solutions are attractive for making money, for profits, for creating jobs, for creating incomes. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just have to channel funds, credits, into these directions so that we can invest more into these businesses for the benefit of traders and consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nancy Okpa, Principal Trade Promotion Officer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), noted that the launch
\nmarks a significant milestone in regional economic cooperation by creating a structural platform for producers, processors, exporters, policy makers, and development partners. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis initiative advances a shared vision and integrated West African market where agricultural value chains thrive.
\nOkpa said through this collaboration that barriers to trade are reduced, opportunities for inclusive growth are expanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Nigeria continues to defend its core values, agriculture remains central to our national and economic strategy.\u201d
\nShe noted that the framework for agricultural trade facilitation lies strongly with the council’s mandate to support exporters, improve competitiveness, and help Nigerian producers meet regional and global demands. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe particularly commend NACCIMA and GIZ for their commitment to empowering agricultural businesses and strengthening the capacities of all stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis initiative comes at a crucial time when strategic patterns are needed to unlock the immense potential of the West African agricultural sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a bid to strengthen regional integration, facilitate cross-border agricultural trade, and expand opportunities for micro-small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), the National Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has partnered with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). At the launch of NACCIMA activities under the ECOWAS Agricultural Trade Programme themed: \u201cStrengthening ECOWAs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9162,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions\/9162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}