The Value Chain Development Firm (VCDF) of IITA–CGIAR hosted the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project’s (OGSTEP) inception workshop on 15 November at the Ijebu Ode Local Government Area Secretariat in Nigeria’s Ogun State.

The workshop aimed to strengthen private sector-led agri-food value chains by ensuring farmers in production clusters have off-taker agreements with agribusiness that are gender and youth-disaggregated, particularly in the six local government areas of Ogun State’s Ijebu zone.

The organizers set out to promote, strengthen, mentor, and sustain an LGA-level value chain innovation platform comprising producers, input suppliers, service providers, off-takers, and other actors engaged in active climate-smart low-emission production practices to improve resilience and mitigation efforts during the pre-investment and investment phases.

IITA-VCDF seeks to enable effective monitoring, learning, and evaluation of project implementation while safeguarding environmental and safety issues in the project location.
The project is the largest World Bank project in Ogun State; the second state to benefit from such a project after Kaduna State. The project covers education, agriculture, public sector reforms, and ease of doing business.

OGSTEP will be funded by a World Bank loan to the Ogun State Government, and as a state government grant to farmers, farmers will be trained to develop a business plan for individual projects.
Ogun State has been categorized into four agricultural zones—Ijebu, Ikenne, Abeokuta, and Ilaro. At least 1,500 farmers from each zone will be selected and supported financially through a grant from the state government. The project will not hand cash to the farmers but supply inputs through government-accredited vendors.
Contributed by the IITA-VCDF Team
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