Nigeria: Govt, World Bank to Inject N15.7 Billion Into Agriculture
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Vanguard (Lagos)
28 August 2008
Posted to the web 29 August 2008
Godfrey Bivbere
The Federal Government and the World Bank will, during the next four years, inject N15.7 billion into the agricultural sector through the Commercial Farming project.
Fertilizer
Dr. Amin Babandi, National Coordinator, Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP), disclosed this recently in Abuja at a meeting to appraise Commercial Farming Project in Nigeria.
He said that out of this amount, the World Bank would contribute N11.7 billion, while the Federal Government and five participating states would contribute N4.09billion.
The five states are Lagos, Kano, Cross River, Enugu and Kaduna.Babandi said that both the Federal Government and CADP were seeking an additional N5.8 billion from the World Bank to accelerate the project, which is needed to support the food security programme of government and bridge the gap in production and processing.
The Coordinator said that the CADP was different from other food security programs initiated by government, adding that it is targeted at adding value to agriculture for commercial purposes.
He said that the project was also aimed at strengthening agricultural production and facilitating access to markets 'for targeted value chains' amongst small and medium scale commercial farmers in the five participating states.
"The value chains include rice, oil palm, cocoa, fruit trees, poultry production, dairy and aqua culture." he said.
He said that each of the five participating states would be encouraged to add value to the production of crops for which they have comparative advan-tage.
He also said that Cross River State would be supported to focus on the production of palm oil and cocoa, Enugu on fruit trees and poultry, while Kaduna would focus on fruit trees and dairy production.
According to the Coordi-nator, Kano State would focus on the production of rice and dairy while Lagos would focus on poultry and aqua culture.
He said that the CADP would collaborate with the World Bank assisted Nigeria Energy Project to supply uninterrupted power supply to commercial farms engaged in the project. More than 35,000 farmers were expected to participate in the commercial farming project, adding that small and medium scale farmers would also benefit.
Eligible farmers that will participate in the project must have been in the farming business for more than three years, adding that producers of one of the commodities in the value chain, with no record of fraudulent activities, were also eligible to participate.
Babandi said that the five participating states had contri-buted their funds for the commencement of the project in early 2009.
In an interview with jour-nalists, Alhaji Musa Shanono, Kano State Commissioner for Agriculture, said that Nigeria's diversification into commercial agriculture would afford the country the opportunity to be self sufficient in food pro-duction, reduce rural poverty and create more jobs.
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He said that the sustain-ability of the project would depend on various factors which, he said, included financial sustainability
Read comments. Write your own.
NOW THE WORLD BANK IS TO INJECT N15.7 BILLIONsTO OUR AGRIC PROJECT.ALREADY USA HAS PROMISED US $770 MILLIONS.WE HAVE TO DIVERSIFY THE DISTRIBUTION OF ALL THESE FUNDS.THE GRASS ROOT FARMERS IN THE RURAL VILLAGES WHO SUPPLY AVAILABLE FOOD TO THE MASSES SUCH AS CASSAVA,YAM,VEGITABLES,AND FRUITS LIKE ORANGES,MANGOES,BANANAS etc ALL AVAILABLE IN VILLAGE MARKETS.THESE FARMERS,ARE MAINLY WOMEN,AND ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE COMMERCIAL FARMING PROJECTS WHOSE EFFECTS ARE FELT ONLY IN THE TOWNSHIPS.YOU CAN IDENTIFY THESE RURAL WOMEN FARMERS BY VISITING THE VILLAGE MARKETS SUCH AS AFOR UMUNA,AND EKE OKIGWE IN IMO STATE. FERTILIZERS,AND NON=INTEREST LOANS CAN BE DISTRIBUTED TO THEM… [Read Full Text]
This is a good developmental news; injecting such whopping sums of money into agriculture means abundant production or bounty turn over for the farmers.
Ondo State Government alone has distributed 6million Cocoa Seedlings to Farmers. Over six million cocoa seedlings have been distributed to cocoa farmers since the inception of Governor Olusegun Agagu’s administration in Ondo State in 2003.
The State’s Deputy Governor, Otunba Omolade Oluwateru confirmed the fact at the distribution of 12,000 cocoa seedlings to farmers in Akoko North West Local Government area of the state by the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly, Mr. Bakkita… [Read Full Text]
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Lets hope that the current crop of "Leaders" are able to match OBJ's record of attaining world's #1 ranking in Cassava production. If OBJ had remained in office beyond 2007, we would've been getting closer to rival Ivory Coast and Ghana's world top ranking in Cocoa production by now. Hopefully with the urging of Madam Okonjo-Iweala at the World Bank, to encourage this administration to try to emulate OBJ and achieve, at least, something in Agric production as to wean us from our over-dependence on crude oil. The more reason why 50% derivation would encourage each state to develop and… [Read Full Text]