IFAD rates Enugu State high on project implementation

The International Fund for Agricultural Development -Assisted Value Chain Development Programme(IFAD-VCDP) has rated Enugu State high on project implementation. IFAD-VCDP’s National Programme Coordinator, Dr Fatima Aliyu, gave the rating during 10th Supervision Mission/Programme Report on IFAD-VCDP programme on Thursday in Enugu. She acknowledged that Enugu State had performed well since the inception of the programme in the state in 2020. According to her, the state has reached 75 per cent of the targeted farmers for the programme. The coordinator said 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.’’ She said that  the state had supported over 5000 rural farmers including women and youths. Aliyu said that out of the targeted beneficiaries, Enugu had reached 75 per cent which she described as ” very impressive performance”. She explained that the essence of the supervision in the state was to ascertain the progress so far in the implementation of the additional financing for which the state was also a beneficiary “We are here to evaluate the progress 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. Aliyu, who commended Gov. Peter Mbah for prompt payment of the state’s counterpart fund for the programme, pledged the agency’s commitment to supporting Enugu farmers to achieve Mbah’s agricultural potential of the state. Speaking to newsmen, the Enugu State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Patrick Ubro, said that the state was doing a lot to sustain the programme to accommodate more farmers. Ubro, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Victor Ngwu, said the state would put monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure that beneficiaries positively utilised inputs given to them. Earlier, the State Programme Coordinator of IFAD-VCDP in Enugu, Dr Edward Isiwu, said the state had tried so much to see that the project main objectives were maintained. He added that the programme had supported small farm-holders with agro inputs, equipment, built market infrastructure and stores as well as promoted two commodities of rice and cassava. Isiwu said stakeholders were pushing for more local government areas to be included into the programme so that more farmers could be assisted. “We have built 12 market stores and eight stores spreading across five LGAs; we have delivered eight rice processing centres and cassava processing centres as well as 21 boreholes,” he said. (NAN)