Grow Africa, a programme of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), today announced the signing of 7 term sheets that will result in a total of over $200,000,000 of new investment in Malawi, Uganda, Eswatini, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire by 2023. The investments will connect farmers with sustainable commercial supply chains and will lead to the creation of over 10 000 new jobs across the 4 countries.
The term sheets were signed in the Deal Room during the ongoing annual African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) hosted by the Government of Ghana and currently underway in Accra. The signing companies are Dangote Farms Limited (Nigeria – Tomato value chain), Press Agriculture Limited (Malawi – Dairy, Macadamia and Soya value chains), Pearl Dairies Limited (Uganda – Dairy value chain) and IFresh Limited (Mozambique & Eswatini – Horticulture value chain). The Term Sheets were also signed by the Governments of the respective countries committing to support the investments through policy formulation and enforcement as well as the provision of public infrastructure as appropriate. Development partners have also committed to provide resources for capacity building and technical assistance to support out grower schemes and other value chain actors.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Al Haji, Sani Dangote, Vice President of Dangote Group said “Gaining commitments to support agribusiness in Nigeria will go a long way in making investment in domestic value chains viable and in improving the livelihood of Nigerian farmers”. “by processing Tomato, Dangote Farms Limited can in turn support Nigerian farmers to improve their seedlings and yields” he added.
Mr Ibrahim Gourouza, speaking on behalf the African Union Development Agency (AUDA) -NEPAD and Grow Africa, emphasized that the African Union’s Agenda 2063 targets manufacturing, industrialization and value addition, especially in agribusiness, as a key engine of Africa’s economic transformation. “Government and the private sector must work together to increase investments in agribusiness and help eliminate the need for importat of food products, create jobs and empower small holder farmers in Africa”, he said.
Speaking during the event, Mr. Christopher Kibanzanga, Uganda State Minister of Agriculture who signed a term sheet on behalf of the Government of Uganda, praised Grow Africa efforts in stimulating private investments in Uganda and called on private sector to invest in Uganda. “This is the beginning of a very prosperous journey for the farmers of Uganda. The investments to be made by the private sector will connect small holder farmers to sustainable commercial supply chains and boost economic growth”
The term sheets are a key milestone of the African Union Country Agribusiness Partnership Framework (CAP-F) rolled out by Grow Africa, which aligns with the Agenda 2063 goal to end hunger. Since its launch in 2011, Grow Africa has been a catalyst in shaping the transformation of agriculture in African, contributing to a recognition by governments and donors that private-sector investment is vital for agricultural growth and rural transformation in Africa.
The specific objectives of a terms sheet are to clearly set out the obligations and commitments of each party. The term sheet also leads to a public announcement of the investment. Once the term sheets are signed, Grow Africa along will follow up with each of the signatories to the term sheet to ensure that their obligations are fulfilled and that the parties enter into a formal legal agreement to facilitate the flow of the investment.
