1.0 BACKGROUND
The Federal Government of Nigeria has received a Facility from the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to finance the cost of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones Program (SAPZ), and intends to apply part of the proceeds towards carrying out various consultancy services. The SAPZ Program is being implemented in the seven (7) States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The States are Cross River, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun and Oyo.
The overall development objective of the SAPZ programme is twofold: (1) Support the development of SAPZ in high food production areas to supply the domestic food market and create exportable surpluses; and (2) Capacitate smallholder farmers, small agro-processors and traders, and community-based service providers, including women and youth; to take advantage of the market demand created by the SAPZ to sustainably enhance their income, household food security and resilience to climate change.
The programme has four components namely:
➢Component 1: Infrastructure Development and Management for Agro-Industrial Hubs (AIHs). Under this AfDB-led component, the programme will support the FGN in developing and setting up SAPZs in high potential states.
➢Component 2: Agricultural Productivity, Production, Market Linkages and Value Addition in SAPZ Catchment Areas. Under this component, SAPZ’s objective is threefold: (i) support smallholder farmers and small operators to increase their productivity/production and capacity to add value to raw materials on a profitable and environmentally sustainable basis; and (ii) link them to the additional market outlets offered by the Agro-Industrial Hubs (AIHs), off-takers supplying the local and national market who operate in the target area, and small processors/traders supplying the local markets, including primary processors operating in the Agricultural Transformation Centres (ATCs); iii) enhance the resilience and adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to climate change..
➢Component 3: Policy and Institutional Development Support. The objective of component 3 is to support the development of enabling policies, legislation, and regulation for SAPZs in Nigeria to create a conducive business environment for private sector investment and to address inefficiencies and market failures in agricultural value chains.
➢Component 4: Programme Coordination and Management. This component will ensure that the programme is efficiently and effectively managed to achieve expected results.
The Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Programme is a flagship initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria, supported by development partners, aimed at promoting agro-industrialization, enhancing agricultural productivity, strengthening value chains, and improving livelihoods through inclusive and market-oriented agribusiness development.
The SAPZ Programme, supported by IFAD and other development partners, aims to transform rural economies by establishing agro-industrial corridors that link smallholder farmers to processing and markets. Despite significant investments in infrastructure and value chains, smallholders—especially women and youth—face persistent barriers in accessing land, finance, and quality inputs. Existing policies remain fragmented, outdated, or poorly enforced, limiting agro-industrial growth and inclusive participation.
This ToR governs the engagement of a Policy and Regulatory Reform Consultant/Team to develop three priority policy frameworks that will enable an enabling, investment-friendly, and inclusive environment for smallholder-driven agro-industries.
Rationale for Policy and Regulatory Reform
Despite Nigeria’s vast agricultural potential, smallholder farmers particularly women and youth continue to face structural barriers that limit their participation in agro-industrial value chains. These barriers include insecure land tenure arrangements, restricted access to affordable finance, inadequate access to certified quality inputs, and persistent resource conflicts. Additionally, the absence of coherent and enforceable policy frameworks governing land access, farm security, agro-enterprise development, and dispute resolution creates an enabling environment deficit that undermines smallholder productivity and investment confidence.
The SAPZ Programme, through Component 3, recognizes that infrastructure development and productivity support alone are insufficient to transform Nigeria’s agro-industrial landscape. Structural and systemic constraints embedded in the policy and regulatory environment must be addressed to create durable, inclusive, and commercially viable agro-industrial ecosystems. This requires targeted policy reform, institutional strengthening, and the development of practical frameworks that explicitly address the needs of marginalized groups particularly smallholder farmers, women, and youth.
Against this backdrop, the National Programme Coordination Office (NCO) invites competent consulting firms or consortia with demonstrated expertise in agricultural policy, legal and regulatory reform, land governance, and rural finance to provide technical support for the development and operationalization of three interrelated policy reform areas under the SAPZ Programme, as detailed in this Terms of Reference.
Policy Reform Areas Covered by this ToR
This ToR covers three specific SAPZ policy reform areas under Component 3, as follows:
S/N Policy Reform Area Focus
1 SAPZ Policy Agenda in Support of Smallholder Agro-Industries Comprehensive policy framework for smallholder agro-industrial participation, competitiveness, and inclusive value chain integration
2 SAPZ Policy on Conflict Management and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Formal mechanisms for managing and resolving disputes arising from land, resources, contracts, and inter-community tensions within SAPZ operational areas
3 SAPZ Policy on Access to Farmland, Farm Security and Production Inputs for Smallholder Farmers Governance frameworks to secure smallholder land rights, ensure farm security, and guarantee equitable access to quality production inputs
- OBJECTIVES
2.1 Overall Development Objective
The overall objective of this assignment is to support the SAPZ Programme in developing, consulting on, and facilitating the adoption of a coherent, gender-responsive, and youth-inclusive policy and regulatory reform agenda that removes structural barriers to smallholder farmer access to land, finance, quality inputs, and agro-industrial opportunities, thereby strengthening the enabling environment for inclusive and sustainable agro-industrial transformation in Nigeria’s SAPZ states.
Kindly download the full documents on the link below
Recent Comments