Economy
Adesina Backs Strong Policies On Food Processing In Africa

By Dipo Olowookere
The challenge of post-harvest losses in Africa is one issue that has given farmers and stakeholders in the agriculture sector sleepless nights.
One person that is as well worried about this problem is the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, who wants African leaders to formulate policies that will tackle the menace and put an end to it.
Delivering his keynote address on Thursday at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Nairobi, Kenya, Mr Adesina outlined the importance of policies to support the establishment of private sector-driven food processing and manufacturing companies in rural areas to deal with the immense food waste, enough to feed at least 300 million people a year.
“Massive quantities of food crops, fresh fruits and vegetables and dairy products go to waste in rural areas, while Africa depends on food imports,” Mr Adesina said.
“That is more than the 250 million people that go hungry each year in Africa,” he told a session on the “Role of Policy in Enabling Public-Private Partnerships to Achieve African Agricultural Transformation,” he added.
Reports indicate that post-harvest losses (PHL) in Africa are equivalent to the annual caloric requirement of 48 million people, and worth US $4 billion in lost revenue per year.
The agro-allied industrial zones and staple-crop processing zones in rural areas, supported with consolidated infrastructure, including roads, water, electricity, will drive down the cost of doing business for private food and agribusiness firms, Adesina said.
They will also create markets for farmers, boost economic opportunities in rural areas, stimulate jobs and attract higher domestic and foreign investments in the rural areas.
“They will turn the rural areas into zones of economic prosperity,” he said.
Kenya has instituted policies to accommodate crop processing, such as macadamia nuts, the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Willy Bett, told the forum.
“We have changed our policies to include processing of macadamia nuts. We want production and processing to be done here so that we boost the industry and mostly the local farmers,” he stated.
The inability of farmers to access insurance and finance was emphasised as a major setback to agriculture, with Shenggen Fan, the Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, blaming this for making farmers susceptible to shocks. He said access to financing was necessary to protect farmers against vulnerability.
This was reiterated by Mr Adesina, who noted that, despite accounting for some 32% of the GDP, the agriculture sector receives less than 3% of the banking sector’s financing. He called on governments to address failures and reduce the risks facing the financial sector that block lending to agriculture.
Nigeria was cited as a country that has successfully developed a national risk-sharing facility for banks to lend to agriculture.
Through the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), the country witnessed a 600% increase in lending by banks to the agriculture sector, rising from 0.7% of total bank lending to 5% within four years.
This has since led to banks establishing their own agricultural lending desks.
But investments in science, technology and innovation in Africa’s agriculture are equally important, according to Dominique Charron, the Director for Agriculture and Environment at the Ottawa-based International Development Research Centre.
“If you want to transform agriculture, we need to invest in innovation, ICT, science, and help build the capacity of Africa’s farmers in these areas,” Charron told the forum.
She called for part of the financial pledges to agriculture made by several organisations at the ongoing AGRF to be channelled toward innovation, ICT and science. A September 7, 2016 session on “Making Political, Policy and Financial Commitments” saw several organisations, including the AfDB, make commitments to agriculture amounting to over US $30 billion.
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NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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