According to the IFC, Nigeria is one of three African countries, along with Ethiopia and Tanzania, to benefit from the World Bank Group’s Livestock and Micro Reforms in Agribusiness (L-MIRA) program, whose overarching objective is to improve competitiveness of the dairy and poultry sectors.
“Dairy and poultry are important livestock sectors that contribute significantly to agribusiness, a key growth sector in Nigeria,” said Alejandro Alvarez de la Campa, practice manager for the World Bank Group’s Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation global practice. “By introducing harmonized and simplified regulations related to animal feed, drugs and vaccines, this initiative will help spur socio-economic development in the country.”
The World Bank Group’s Nigeria project will streamline the regulation of animal feed to remove overlapping or redundant regulatory requirements related to the standards and quality control mechanism, as well as the registration and renewal process for drugs and vaccines. The project also will support reforms to better and more efficiently regulate animal feed in markets, and coordinate government agencies involved in regulating animal feed.
The four-year initiative is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and was endorsed by national partners, including Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, the Standards Organization of Nigeria and the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science.
The IFC, a sister organization of the World Bank and a member of the World Bank Group, is a global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, the IFC said it uses its capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of the world.
