The Federal Government and International Fund for Agricultural Development Programme (IFAD) assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), on Sunday, distributed agricultural inputs to 363 smallholder cassava and rice farmers in Nasarawa State.
Dr Eunice Adgidzi, State Programme Coordinator, FG/IFAD-VCDP, stated this at the flagoff of the 2023 wet season agricultural inputs distribution exercise in Lafia.
Adgidzi said that distribution of the agricultural inputs to the smallholder farmers was to improve their livelihood and enhance their productivity towards ensuring food security in Nasarawa State and the country.
She noted that smallholder farmers were at the centre Nigeria’s food security drive as they accounted for about 90 per cent of agricultural produce in the country.
“However, these farmers have always been the primary victims of threat to agriculture including insecurity, climate change, rising cost of inputs among other.
“These factors pose grave threat to their productivity thereby leading to the current high rate of poverty among them, hence the need for the support,” she said.
The programme coordinator said the 363 smallholder farmer were drawn from Lafia, Doma, Wamba, Nasarawa and Karu Local Government Areas of the State.
She listed the agriculture inputs distributed to include 1, 800 kg of improved rice seeds, 1,650 bundles of cassava stems, 402 bags of fertilisers (NPK and Urea) as well as 156 litres of selective and non-selective herbicides.
She called on the farmers to effectively utilise the inputs in order to enhance their productivity for the benefit of everyone in the state.
In her remarks, Dr Fatima Aliyu, National Programme Coordinator FG/IFAD-VCDP, commended the Nasarawa State Government for keying into the programme, which had recorded tremendous successes in the state within the last three years.
Represented by Hamza Shehu, Technical Assistant to National Programme Coordinator, Aliyu particularly lauded Gov Abdullahi Sule for supporting the vision of VCDP and making agriculture a top priority.
“We are proud of the achievements in this State and will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensuring that we give smallholder farmers a more quality livelihood,” she said.
Aliyu, therefore, urged the farmers to make the most use of the inputs bearing in mind that the whole nation was looking up to them for survival.
Also speaking, Mr Isa Eya, Permanent Secretary, Nasarawa Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, lauded FG/IFAD-VCDP for the support to farmers in the state.
He pointed out that distribution of the inputs was timely and in compliance with the 2023 seasonal rainfall prediction by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (Nimet).
Eya also encouraged the smallholder farmers to fully deploy the knowledge acquired through VCDP over the years on good agronomic practices in order to surmount the numerous challenges to agricultural production in the state.
