Stakeholders have expressed support for the implementation of the Secured Agricultural Commodity Transport and Storage Corridor (SATS-C) which is an initiative of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc), to combat post-harvest losses, create jobs and boost the contribution of the agriculture sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, while speaking at a breakfast meeting on the development of the SATS-C policy in Abuja, expressed confidence that the implementation will provide benefits in the areas of strengthening the agricultural supply chain to drive an agro-industrial renaissance.
He said the policy would also facilitate the emergence of a functional supply chain system and commodity exchange as well as ensuring that a single Secured Commodity Aggregation Zones (SCAZ) of a 100,000mt annual capacity will create 25,600 direct jobs, 100,000 indirect jobs and save about $37 million in foreign exchange due to an improved supply chain system.
Among other things, the minister pointed out that SATS-C would further create the necessary platform to support various agricultural commodity-focused intervention; increase efficiency in commodity handling, leading to a reduction in haulage cost as well as cut post-harvest losses.
