The challenge seeks to aid a Nigerian economy hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.United States President Joe Biden (Business Insider)Patrick Semansky/AP
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the USAID/Nigeria COVID-19 Food Security Challenge.
With this challenge, USAID will offer $3million in funding and technical assistance to youth-led companies and mid-stage companies (those having an existing customer base of more than 1,000 people) in Nigeria in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s agri-food systems.
In a statement, USAID says: “Nigeria is presently confronted with a food security crisis that is deepened by COVID-19 global pandemic and its negative consequences on the food value chain in the country.
“The pandemic has severely affected an already weak agri-food system and value chain across the nation.
“Millions of people, and especially the most vulnerable households, are threatened with hunger and malnutrition due to the socio-economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and large-scale disruption to food production, processing, distribution, and marketing systems.
“In response to this crisis, USAID/Nigeria seeks to collaborate with commercially viable youth-led and mid-stage companies that are already operating in food production, processing, and/or distribution across Nigeria.Illustrative photo of a fruit stall in a Nigerian market [fmic]
“USAID is requesting that these partners assist farmers and other stakeholders in the food value chain to increase agricultural productivity and food security within the next six months.”
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The challenge seeks to award 15 to 25 youth-led companies up to $75,000 each and 10 to 15 mid-stage companies up to $150,000 each.
The winners will receive funding and technical assistance to rapidly expand their food production or food security 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 open application period closes on May 9, 2021 at 5pm.
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