National Programme Coordinator of the International Fund for Agricultural Development-Assisted Value Chain Development Programme, IFAD-VCDP, Dr Fatima Aliyu, has appluaded Enugu State’s performance in the programme, saying that the state has reached 5000 out of 6000 (75%) targeted farmers for the programme.
She disclosed this during the 10th Supervision Mission/Programme Report on IFAD-VCDP programme held in Enugu on Thursday.
Aliyu said that Enugu state was one of the three states that were added to the programme in 2020 and had performed so well since the inception of the programme .
Ngwu
According to her, the IFAD-VCDP was implemented in nine states for cultivation and processing of rice and cassava. She explained that for each project, there were targeted number of farmers and “based on our target, the state has profiled and assisted 75 per cent of what they are supposed to cover since 2020”, Aliyu said
She disclosed that the state has supported over 5000 rural farmers including women and youths and out of the targeted beneficiaries, Enugu has reached 75 per cent which is an impressive performance.
On why they were in Enugu, Aliyu, said the essence of supervision mission was to ascertain the progress so far made in the implementation of the additional financing which Enugu State was among.
Dr. Aliyu
“We are here to evaluate the progresses they made since the beginning of the additional fund, their success stories and identify their challenges so that other countries who want to set up IFAD-VCDP can use it as an example.
“We have a team who are professionals to identify solutions to challenges if there is any,” she said.
While commending Gov. Peter Mbah for paying counterpart fund for the programme, the national coordinator, pledged to do everything possible to support Enugu farmers to aligned with Mbah’s agricultural mission for the state.
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In an interview, Enugu State Commissioner for Agriculture, Patrick Ubro,who was represented by Victor Ngwu, Permanent Secretary, ministry of Agriculture, said that the Enugu state was doing a lot to sustain the programme , to accommodate more farmers.
He added that the state would put monitoring mechanisms to ensure that beneficiaries put what was given to them in good use.
Earlier, the Enugu State Programme Coordinator of IFAD-VCDP, Dr. Edward Isiwu, said the state had tried so much to see that the project main objective were maintained.
He added that they had supported small farmholders with agro inputs, equipment, built market infrastructure and stores as well as promoted two commodities of rice and cassava.
Isiwu said they were currently pushing for more Local Government Areas to be included in the programme so that more farmers would be assisted.
On the infrastructure they had out in place, the State Programme Cordinator said, “We have built 12 market stores and eight stores spreading across five Local Governmen Areas and we have delivered eight rice processing centres and cassava processing centres as well as 21 boreholes ‘
Dr. Isiwu
EEarlier in their brief remarks, the representatives of the state government, Juliet Okonkwo, Solomon Elechi and the Special Adviser, SPA Donor, Dubem Onyia, all pledged state Government’s continuous support to IFAD-VCDP.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama