Recently, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Fund (UN SDG-F), Sahara Group, Kaduna State Government and Roca Brothers, unveiled the Food Africa project in Kaduna to promote food security. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Seun Akioye, Mr. Tonye Cole, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Sahara Group speaks on the importance of the project which is ultimately expected to enhance inclusive growth in the African food industry.
How much of a threat would you say poverty represents to communities and nations across the globe?
Poverty is a serious threat to communities and nations globally. Apart from the fact that people die daily from starvation due to poverty, the constantly increasing gap between the rich and the poor has accounted for further strife, violence and conflicts in many regions of the world. Some world bank reports have stated that nearly half of the world’s population – more than 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day, more than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty – less than $1.25 a day and 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.
The statistics are very disheartening hence the need to develop sustainable solutions required to reduce the threat to humanity.
How has Sahara’s corporate responsibility projects addressed the poverty menace?
Through multiple partnerships with public and private sector organisations, Sahara has been involved in the implementation of several economic empowerment programmes within and beyond our locations across the globe. Most of the projects involved provision of platforms for skill acquisition for indigent and disadvantaged beneficiaries to promote inclusion and socio-economic growth. The recently launched Food Africa project is another platform we believe will enhance the campaign against poverty on a massive scale given the involvement of local, regional and global partners.
How did the Food Africa project emerge and what is the focus of the project?
The Food Africa project, a very first of its kind is the product of a partnership between Sahara Group, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals- Fund (SDG-F) and the Kaduna State Government aimed at empowering the people of Kaduna State and alleviating poverty through food security. The project was birthed after the SDG-F looked to the private sector as a possible contributor to the success of sustainable goals particularly because they had observed in multiple countries across the world, many private companies had carried out very successful and thriving CSR projects with little or no involvement of the host governments. The agriculture initiative aims to integrate the entire food value chain – the farmer, wholesaler, retailer and consumer – using a forward/backward integration approach that would help improve the farmers, their farming techniques and reduction in farm produce wastages, thereby providing a sustainable source of food security, poverty eradication, skill acquisition and social inclusiveness. The target is to touch at least 500,000 beneficiaries (30% direct beneficiaries and 70% indirect beneficiaries) providing families with better nutrition and livelihood opportunities are estimated to benefit from the project over a five year period.
Who are the partners involved in the project?
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Fund (SDG-F), Sahara Group, UN specialized agencies, Kaduna State Government and Roca Brothers of Spain who were recently given the award of the best restaurant in the world. The SDG Fund and Sahara Group will be responsible for project design and will together provide the bulk of the co-financing, mobilize matching fund contributions and oversee the preparation of the work plan in agreement with all partners. They will jointly chair the bi-annual trustees committee, assume overall oversight of the project implementation, provide guidance to the project management office and oversee the appointment and development of the capacities of the processing facility management. UN specialized agencies will assume responsibility for technical assistance in their core areas of expertise and implementing those activities agreed upon in the work plan. The Roca Brothers will contribute to overall technical oversight to the project. They provide their technical expertise, including the sharing of best practices in resource efficiency, recycling and recovering of waste as secondary resources to help optimize the operations of the processing facility. Kaduna State Government will provide the land upon which the facility will be constructed and other arable land within the identified Local Government Areas in addition to access to utilities and all-year round armed security for the facility.
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