TheCable

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent agency of the US, says it will provide $3 million in grant funding and technical assistance to youth-led and mid-stage companies in the food value chains in Nigeria.

Applications for the grant, tagged “COVID-19 Food Security Challenge” opened on Monday, April 12 and will close on Sunday, May 9.

Afterwards, successful applicants are required to present ideas that demonstrably help farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural value chain increase agricultural productivity and food security within a period of six months.

According to USAID, the winners which would consist of 15 to 25 youth-led companies will receive a cash prize of $75,000, while 10 to15 mid-stage companies will be awarded a cash prize of up to $150,000 each.

“Winners will receive funding and technical assistance to rapidly expand their activities to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s food value chain and improve the resilience of vulnerable households to the negative impacts of the pandemic, ” the statement issued by USAID on Monday read.

The agency noted that the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted already weak agricultural value chains, especially smallholder farmers’ ability to produce, process, and distribute food.

Speaking on the development, Anne Patterson, mission director of USAID Nigeria, said: We are launching the COVID-19 food security challenge to help innovative Nigerians alleviate food insecurity.”

“This assistance encourages private sector-led solutions to boost food production, processing, and create market linkage along the agriculture value chain in a sustainable way across Nigeria.”