No fewer than 121,000 smallholder farmers have benefitted from the Federal Government, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
By Sunday John
No fewer than 121,000 smallholder farmers have benefitted from the Federal Government, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) supported Value Chain Development programme for rice and cassava in Nigeria.
Dr Fatima Aliyu, National Programme Coordinator, FG/IFAD-VCDP, stated this during a supervision visit to Nasarawa State on Thursday in Lafia.
Aliyu said that the programme, aimed at increasing rural household incomes and food security, was being implemented in 63 local government areas across nine states in Nigeria, with focus on rice and cassava value chain.
She said that 135,000 smallholders farmers were expected to be supported in the country before the programme winds up.
She listed the states to include Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Ogun, Niger, Taraba, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Enugu.
The national programme coordinator explained that the project encompassed production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava on a sustainable basis.
“The implementation in the benefiting states is geared towards transforming the lives of smallholder farmers by creating job opportunities for womens and youths, thereby increasing the incomes of poor rural households,” she said.
Aliyu noted that the impact of the programme in Nasarawa State was visible and encouraging giving the testimonies of the benefitting farmer groups.
According to her, the Rice Innovation Centre in Ashangwa community in Lafia Local Government Area and its impact on the people speaks to the essence of the VCDP intervention.
“In Ashangwa, we supported the group in setting up a rice processing centre with modern machines, and aggregation centre for the storage of the rice, a crech for women amongst other facilities.
“The beneficiaries of our interventions are farmer groups and cooperatives and all the facilities belong to them and are meant for their use to improve their livelihoods.
” We have interacted with them and have seen how enthusiastic the farmers both male and female, young and old have embraced this programme.
” We give priority to women and youth and today, they are employers of labour themselves and they are creating wealth,” she said.
Aliyu explained that the interventions were demand-driven where the farmer groups make request for what they need in order to improve on their businesses.
“For the physical structures, the community and state government provide the land, while for machineries, the farmers group pay 30 per cent equity cost of any machine and VCDP takes care of the balance for rice and cassava processing, allowing them to gain full ownership of the equipment,” she said.
The national programme coordinator, therefore, called on the beneficiaries to sustain the production, processing and marketing of the rice and cassava value chain even at the expiration of the programme.
In his remarks, Dr Kush Peter-Kukwi, Director, Project Coordinating Unit, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, expressed satisfaction with the level of implementation of the project in the state .
Peter-Kukwi said that what the visitation team saw at the rice processing centre and other facilities put in place to better the livelihoods of rural farmers and the excitement of the beneficiaries were the primary goals of the VCDP in the country.
He disclosed that the Federal Government was seeking a two-year extension of the projects to enable more states to benefit.
Also speaking, Ms Dede Ekoue, Country Director IFAD, and leader of the visitation team, expressed delight with the implementation of VCDP in Nasarawa state.
She, however, gave assurances of stakeholders’ collaboration to improve on areas of lapses in the implementation of the programme in the country.
On her part, Dr Eunice Adgidzi, Programme Coordinator of VCDP in Nasarawa State, said that the implementation of programme commenced in 2020 in five local government areas of Lafia , Doma , Wamba , Nasarawa and Karu.
“Since inception to date, VCDP supported a total of 4,023 farmers engaged in different enterprises within rice and cassava value chains including 2,364 males and 1,659 females ( among which are 1,370youths),” she added.
Speaking to newsmen during the visit to the Ashangwa rice processing centre, Mr Bitrus John Alaku, the Chairman of Ashangwa Rice Innovation Platform, stated that the implementation of the VCDP has reduced poverty and boosted food security in the community.
According to Alaku, the establishment of an aggregation centre for the Rice Innovative platform in Ashangwa community has improved their rice production capacity.
He said that VCDP assisted them in the acquisition and installation of various rice processing equipment to enable them process and market their farm output.
“In the past, we cannot boast of producing more than 50 bags of rice in a week.
“However, the intervention of VCDP with the provision modern machines such as distoner, colour sorter and polisher, we are now producing about 400 bags of 50 kilogrammes high quality rice weekly, that can compete favourably in the international market,” he said.
Alaku appreciated the Federal Government and other partner for implementing the project in the state and promised to ensure the sustainability of the gains recorded. (NAN)
