How FAAN’s Strategy to Grow Export Will Create over 2m Jobs

Chinedu Eze

The current plan by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to collaborate with some state governments to grow and export perishable goods to other countries, will create over two million jobs from the agricultural sector, a development that will also double the volume of export of farm produce, according to aviation experts.

Niger, Enugu, and Plateau states among others have embarked on huge investment for agro produce for export and they are collaborating with FAAN to establish cargo facilities, including cold rooms at the airports for the storage of the cargo before export.

Last week, the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, launched the distribution of inputs and grants valued at over N4.6 billion to farmers, communities, and technology startups in the state, as part of the efforts to enhance food security, promote agro-industrialisation, and support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development.

The governor announced that 12,000 smallholder farmers would receive a bag of fertiliser each, courtesy of the federal government’s donation to all states. Additionally, 51 power tillers worth N2 million each would be distributed to farmers across various farming clusters in the state, further demonstrating the administration’s commitment to agricultural development and MSME growth.

Most of the farm produce are targeted for export, and the governor is collaborating with FAAN to establish cargo terminal at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu and. According to the plan, the state will kick-off the export of farm produce by next year.

Last year when FAAN management visited the governor, he spoke about his determination to complete the cargo terminal and warehouse to get the facilities ready for the export of the first batch of farm produce from the state.

“For us, the cargo terminal is critical. You know that we are migrating agriculture to agro-allied industrialisation. That means agriculture will not just be for food, it will also be for export. And the cargo terminal is critical if we are going to engage in the export of agricultural and agro-allied produce from the state. We need to be able to export from here. That is why we are looking at partnering with FAAN to ensure that we start and complete a cargo terminal and indeed operationalise it,” Mba said.

In Niger State, governor Mohammed Bago has advanced plan to export farm produce from early next year and has cultivated farms solely for export of produce.

The governor met with President Bola Tinubu recently on his plans for expanded farming in the state.

According to Bago, Niger State aims to farm 500,000 hectares of land in 2024, matching the federal government’s goal outlined by President Tinubu in his recent new year address.
He said the state has positioned itself as a pilot for the national agriculture project.

The governor noted that Niger State was already underway with 250,000 hectares of dry season farming through partnerships with private companies.

“And there are some initiatives we have started we are about to do a total of 250,000 hectares dry season farming, which we have already signed an agreement with some companies for off take,” he said.

Niger state government in collaboration with FAAN has completed well-equipped cargo terminal at the Minna Airport.

Plateau State, known over the years for the production of large volume of crops and engaged in exports, slowed down in recent times but the governor of the state, Caleb Mutfwang is poised to revive agriculture and production of farm produce for export.

Kebbi State has over the years been exporting onions to Morocco and other countries, but the country plans to add more crops to what it is already exporting out of the country.

Nigeria is a leader in various types of agricultural production, such as palm oil, cocoa beans, pineapple, and sorghum. It is the largest producer of sorghum in the world just after the United States, and ranks fifth in the production of palm oil and cocoa beans. Nigeria is also a large global exporter in this sector. Oil, fruits, nuts, seeds are among the ten best performing export categories

It is believed by FAAN that with its plan to export more perishables, Nigeria will employ more than two million young people into the agricultural sector in the next two years.

FAAN’s new cargo export programme was whelped after the 2021 conference on Cargo, known as Chinet. That was when the agency became intentional about cargo export, which also expected to export over 600, 000 tons of agricultural produce by 2026 and earn a projected revenue of about $10 billion per annum.

The Coordinator of Aviacargo Committee inaugurated by FAAN, Ambassador Ikechi Uko, said if the states in collaboration with FAAN, carry out the programme at the expected scale, it would employ a lot of people in the value chain because currently there is huge logistics gap that could be filled if cargo export is doubled from the current 250 metric tons to 500 metric tons.

In order to ensure that the farm produce targeted for export meet given international standards, the Aviacargo committee has met with the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services and the National Agency for Food, Drug and Administration Control (NAFDAC) and it intends to sample exports from Kano, Lagos, Enugu, Jos, working together with Quarantine and NAFDAC.

Uko explained that farm produce would be inspected from the farm to its movement to the airport before export because traceability is very important for perishables, as the countries where the produce is consumed would like to know the provenance of what they consume.

“So, we start from the farm. We have developed a template we have to follow, starting from the farm, the haulage to the airport and then export. We have to monitor this movement with the developed template, which we presented to Quarantine. We will ensure that we follow that template which we will be improving upon to ensure it works efficiently,” Uko said.

According to him, states have keyed into the programme for large-scale agro export and once the template evolved works, the Aviacrago committee will hand over to the state for implementation. This is being meticulously done so that Nigerian agro export will not be rejected in the international market.

“What we intend to do is to create a pathway and hand over to Nigerians. Right now, we are not doing very well in agro export, but every state wants to do something to boost agricultural produce in Nigeria,” Uko further said.

He said that every state has something to produce and export, but the project needs commitment and investment to make it a reality.

He also commended FAAN for taking the programme seriously because it is a window through which Nigeria will even earn more than what oil gives to the country.

“FAAN has taken this programme up to a higher level by creating a directorate for cargo. FAAN has done very well,” he said.