About 38,000 Nigerians comprising women and youths from the oil-producing states are to benefit from the $60 million International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) assisted project.
The National Coordinator of the project which is also
tagged, FGN/NDDC/IFAD Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises-Niger Delta
(LIFE-ND), Engineer Abiodun F. Sanni, who disclosed this at a media roundtable
held Friday in Port Harcourt, informed that the project covers nine oil
producing states under the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The states including Abia, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross-River,
Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Delta, Ondo and Imo States.
He however regretted that out of the nine states, three
including Imo, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom, have not benefited due to the failure of
NNDC to provide its $30 million counterpart funding as earlier agreed.
The essence of the media roundtable, Sanni informed, was to
bring the activities and achievements made under the project to the knowledge
of the general public. He decried that in spite of the mileage reached and the
numerous households impacted so far by the project, the level of publicity,
advocacy and awareness had remained relatively low in the past.
According to him, 10 local government areas are selected by
each state government for the empowerment of its women and youths.
“Also, for a community to be listed, the national
coordinator held that it must be peaceful, agrarian, rural and have ample land
for the projects.
Accepting that other states of the federation also require
similar intervention, Sanni stated that the project can be expanded beyond its
present scope if the funding agency can be magnanimous enough to increase the
projected figure.
He explained that as of December 31, 2022, LIFE-ND had
supported over 700 incubators and facilitated the establishment of 5,194 women
and youth incubate enterprises.
“Additionally, a total of 6,964 incubators and incubates
including women, youths and the vulnerable people trained on various topics in
agricultural entrepreneurship and good agricultural practices covering the
business cycle of the beneficiary’s business of choice.”
Speaking further on the contribution of the project to the
country’s strategic objective on food security, household income and job
creation, the coordinator stressed that over 450 metric tons of cassava, 219.74
metric tons of rice seed, 230 metric tons of paddy rice and 21.23 metric tons
of cocoa productions have been recorded.
Other contributions include 660 metric tons of poultry
broiler production and 594.63 metric tons of fish production.
He added that LIFE-ND project has succeeded in injecting
approximately, a gross income value of over N1.8 billion into the nation’s
economy.
While over 6,964 small-holder farmers have been reached as
of December 2022, Sanni projected that 13,000 people will benefit in the
current year.
“With this level of outreach, LIFE-ND will significantly be
contributing to Nigeria’s strategic objective of food security through its
contribution to both the national food security and national economy”, he said.
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