One hundred and fifty dry-season farmers in Ebonyi would receive assistance under the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) from the Federal Government of Nigeria/ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Mr. Sunday Ituma, the IFAD-VCDP State Programme Coordinator, disclosed this while flagging off the 2023/24 dry season farming at Odomowo, Inyimegu in Ikwo Local Government Area of the state.
“The benefiting 150 farmers are expected to cultivate 150 hectares of land.
“IFAD-VCDP will support the benefiting groups and individuals within the groups with four bags of NPK and two bags of urea fertilizers.
“They will also be supported with two liters of herbicides (selective and non-selective) alongside the capacity building in dry season farming,” he said.
Ituma thanked Gov. Francis Nwifuru for providing the enabling environment for IFAD to thrive especially the payment of the state government’s N100 million counterpart fund in 2023.
“The total cost of IFAD-VCDP’s intervention in this dry season farming is N54 million and we would continue supporting benefiting farmers to realize desired objectives,” he said.
He noted that the program has provided 10 sets of solar-powered irrigation pumps to check the problems encountered in providing petrol for water pumps.
“The water pumps have been confirmed functional and we are expecting technical experts who will fabricate free-energy water pumps to draw water from the river,” he said.
Dr. Fatima Aliyu, the IFAD-VCDP National Programme Coordinator, represented by Mr. Musa Dalang while expressing delight with the land plain which has high irrigation potential, described as the real people targeted by the program.
“The presence of top government officials also delights me as this shows the state government’s acceptance of the program,” she said.
Mrs Nkechinyere Iyioku, state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the IFAD-VCDP interventions.
“I thank the management of IFAD-VCDP in Ebonyj for implementing the agricultural policies of the governor at the grassroots.
“Ensuring that Ebonyi maintains the food basket of the nation requires hard work to demonstrate practical agriculture complemented with bountiful yield,” she said.
Mr Jude Ogodo, a beneficiary, thanked IFAD-VCDP for the interventions and pledged that they would be judiciously utilized.
There were goodwill messages by the state House of Assembly committee on agriculture and, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development among others.
