The Road to the SDGs

METHOD X IsDB’s GVC analysis methodology (see page 170) was used to identify the key action points for Niger. X Agribusiness has immense transformative potential for Niger. The livestock sector alone contributes 13% to the national GDP and provides 22% of the country’s export earnings. The country has significant asset levels, with 10 million cattle, 24 million small ruminants, and 1.5 million camels. X The primary market for the country’s agribusiness exports is Nigeria, which receives more than 95% of Niger’s total exported livestock products. This amounts to US$ 190 million in trade annually, a figure that is understated due to informal export channels. X Other critical products include rice and cotton, which rely on irrigated, labour-intensive, year-round production along the Niger River Valley. Niger has 2 cotton ginneries with a capacity of 60,000 tons/year and 2 textile factories that produce textiles for domestic use. X Niger has significant potential to expand the scale of irrigated farming. Only 1% of surface runoff and 15% of renewable groundwater are currently used and less than 30% of potentially irrigable land is currently irrigated. X The sector performance is hampered by lack of inputs (machinery and fertilisers), poor linkages between actors in the value chain, and significant infrastructure gaps. X Niger has an international reputation for high-value hides with a prized Nigerian goat breed, chèvre rousse de Maradi, considered to be of exceptional quality. There is a minimal level of local processing, with most of the hides exported as wet-blue to Nigeria (80%), with a small quantity going to India, Bangladesh and Italy. X Key constraints to the leather sector are: – Lack of quality control – Reliance on traditional tanning – Seasonal variation of livestock availability which makes it difficult for tanneries to operate – Lack of marketing and branding and therefore of investment and sourcing opportunities. ACHIEVEMENTS X The GVC-based MCPS aims to identify and help mitigate the critical bottlenecks to the transformative potential of the country’s agribusiness and textiles sector. X By harnessing public investments and mobilising private resources, the MCPS will help to strengthen the competitiveness of the identified industries through interventions that will create jobs, increase FDI and contribute to the country’s industrial development. X IsDB is committed to working closely with the Republic of the Niger to collaborate on interventions related to: – Infrastructure development – Access to finance – Strengthening institutional and value chain actor capacity. INVESTMENT X The agribusiness and textiles sectors hold significant promise for value-added benefits as well as job creation. X In the textiles and apparel sector, for example, IsDB will use a GVC-based approach to identify opportunities for value creation along each step of the chain for, among others: – Cotton production – Spinning to dyeing – Print and design – The retail fashion industry. E X P O R T S The primary market for Niger’s agribusiness exports is Nigeria, which receives more than 95% of the total exported livestock products, amounting to US$190 million in trade annually Uranium and crude oil respectively accounted for 25% and 22% of Niger’s goods export in 2018 [ 241 ] T H E R O A D T O T H E S D G s | P R O G R E S S A N D A C H I E V E M E N T S