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Tag: FADAMA

  • FADAMA trains stakeholders in nutrition sensitive agriculture in Oyo

    FADAMA trains stakeholders in nutrition sensitive agriculture in Oyo

    The FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF) Programme has started training the personnel of Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme ( OYSADEP ), FADAMA staff and farmers in nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

    A statement by Mr Tunde Oladunjoyelo, the World Bank Media Consultant on FADAMA, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Mr Nath Olayinka, the State Project Coordinator, said that that the aim of the training was to expose the participants to the best ways of retaining food nutrients during food preparation.

    He said that the training was also aimed at developing good eating habits and boosting the food security of the state.

    He said that a human nutrition specialist was engaged to share knowledge, ideas and skills with the participants, while equipping them with the wherewithal that would enable them to disseminate the information effectively to farm families.

    Read also: FADAMA III: World Bank earmarks $50m in North-East

    Speaking, Mrs Iroko Ibukun-Oluwa, Director of Extension, OYSADEP, urged the participants to practise and disseminate the knowledge they acquired in the training to farmers.

    She said that OYSADEP would put in place a feedback mechanism to ensure that the knowledge was successfully delivered to farmers.

    Also speaking, Dr Thomas Adepoju, Head of Department of Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan, said that nutrition was the bedrock of all development.

    “It studies the process in which living organisms take in and make use of food for the production of energy, the functioning of organs and tissues, maintenance of life growth, reproduction and elimination of waste products from the body.’’

    Adepoju, who said that the cycle of malnutrition and poverty could be drastically reduced via behavioural communication strategy, urged the participants to share the knowledge with the farmers and facilitate the transformation of agriculture into agribusiness.

    Alhaja Dauda Ayoade, the Secretary to the FADAMA Community Association, who spoke on behalf of the farmers, commended the FADAMA III (AF) Programme for the nutrition-sensitive training.

    She pledged to convey the knowledge which was acquired in the training to other members of the production clusters and groups.

    NAN

  • World Bank lauds Lagos Fadama project

    World Bank lauds Lagos Fadama project

    The Lagos State Fadama agricultural project has been commended by the World Bank for touching the lives of farmers in the state.

    Speaking during an assessment mission to the state on Wednesday at the Johnson Agiri Complex in the Oko Oba area of Agege, the Task Team Leader of World Bank, Dr.Tunji Oredipe, commended the Lagos State Project Office of Fadama for recording giant strides in the implementation of the project.

    He said: ‘’I am not surprised that Lagos State has set the standard in Fadama project in terms of activities in the field, in terms of  their result and in terms of quality of their representation. We are going out of Lagos and we are taking away something that we can use to educate others.”

    In his welcome address, The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya, said Governor Akinwunmi Ambode ‘’ is very passionate about the issue of food security, and he is drastically reduce the food import bill, especially rice, through strategic partnerships that rely on areas of comparative advantages of partners. These have started yielding the desired results as the Lake Rice brand has crashed the price of rice in the country and local production has significantly increased.’’

    In his words, the State Coordinator of Fadama Project Office, Mr Jonathan Ade Obayemi, said the current focus of the project was to assist rice farmers in the state.

  • ‘Climate change may affect food produce in 2018’ – FADAMA AF

    The Niger State Fadama III Additional Financing has complained that the changing rainfall pattern caused by climate change this year is having a negative impact on agriculture in the state and the country in general.

    The State Coordinator, Engineer Aliyu Usman Kutigi, expressed fear that this may affect the availability of food produce in 2018, unless the federal government look into ways of turning the challenges posed by climate changes into opportunities.

    Speaking at the two-day training workshop for facilitators, desk officers and farmers in Minna on climate change in conjunction with Yamtokas Nigeria Limited, Kutigi urged farmers and relevant stakeholders in the agricultural sector of the country to turn challenges posed by climate change to boost agriculture and agricultural production in the nation.

    Kutigi, who was represented by the Community Development Officer, Alhaji Abubakar Ndaguye, explained that acquiring knowledge on climate change by farmers is very crucial, adding that the knowledge when put to use improve their agricultural productivity for national sustainable development .

    The coordinator said the workshop with the theme ‘Turning Challenges into Opportunities for Improved Rice and Sorghum production’, was organised for relevant stakeholders in Niger State out of the desire to reposition agriculture, especially under the Fadama II AF Rice and Sorghum value chain for greater positive impact on the state economy.

    “The major objective is for participants to understand the effect of climate change in agricultural production and its challenges, with the intention of turning those challenges into opportunities. The major focus and priority areas of the FADAMA III AF is adding value and supporting all activities under the rice and sorghum value chains in the state.”

    Presenting his paper, Dr. Suleiman Mohammed of the Department of Geography in the Federal University of Technology, Minna, told the participants that climate change could be natural or man-made; lamenting that the activities of man was the major factor responsible for climate change, which cannot be reversed.

    Earlier, the Director of Yamtokas Nigeria Limited said the workshop was organised by the Fadama Project III and his organisation to build the capacity of staff to update them on current global best practice and equip participants with basic knowledge on climate change and how it affects agric and agricultural production.

  • Fadama, World Food Programme sign MoU

    A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the National Fadama Coordination Office and the World Food Programme to scale up the provision of food and livelihood activities in two local government areas of Maiduguri metropolitan council and Jere local government areas.

    The memorandum of understanding was signed by Mr. Tayo Adewunmi, the National Project Coordinator of Fadama, and Mr. Tito Nikodimos, the Director Operations North East Nigeria of the World Food Programme, at the Council Chamber of Government House Maiduguri in the presence of Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State and other dignitaries.

    The one million dollar pilot project between the World Food Programme (WFP) and Fadama III Project is restricted to operate in two local government areas of MMC and Jere with the objectives of enhancing income generating businesses through provision of startup capital and skill strengthening trainings to vulnerable youth groups and women headed households and to develop and maintain community infrastructures through cash for work, targeting communities affected by the crisis.

    Shettima described the concept as ”a process of shared decision-making in which all the parties with a stake in a problem constructively explore their difference and develop a joint strategy for action”.

    The Task Team leader Fadama three Additional Finance two of the World Bank, Dr. Adetunji Oredipe, said the World Bank is a major partner in this collaborative venture between Fadama project and World Food Programme and congratulated the two organisations for a well-thought-out initiative.

    The Fadama project, he said, has positioned itself as a development project which focuses on improving the living conditions of our rural populace in over 30 years of its existence adding that Fadama AF-II has proved to be a leading and reliable instrument for responding to emergencies in the food sector in Nigeria.

    The project, within the short time of its existence, Dr oredipe, added has contributed to reduction of vulnerability to food crisis among returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and host farmers through increased and revitalized production by supporting rehabilitation of existing rural community agricultural related infrastructure and farm settlements.

  • FADAMA gives input to 8,000 farmers

    Niger State Fadama 111 Additional Financing Project have distributed farm inputs to over 8,000 farmers this year to boost agricultural produce in the state.

    The state Project Coordinator, Aliyu Usman Kutigi made this known  at the opening of a workshop on ‘Developing the Rice and Sorghum Value Chains under the Niger state FADAMA project” in Minna.

    According to him, the farmers who were mainly sorghum and rice farmers were supported with the inputs in the bid of developing and supporting the rice and Sorghum value chains in the state.

    Kutigi also said that over 2, 000 farmers have been trained and desks officers have been trained in various capacity building trainings which was aimed at strengthening their capacities in the execution of their primary functions.

    He urged the participants of the workshop to utilize every medium in towards improving their productivity to enable them bring positive changes into the spectrum of rice and Sorghum value chain and disemminate vital agricultural information to the farmers.

    The Coordinator expressed the determination of FADAMA in improving the overall agricultural productivity a d the general improvement in the socio-econnomic well-being of small farmers throughout the state.

    In his address, the Executive Director of Nagarta Nigeria Limited, AlhajiSalihu Yusuf said that the e capacity workshop of the desk officers and farmers in order to keep them abreast of world best practices.

  • Monitoring team ranks Edo high on transparency, job creation

    Monitoring team ranks Edo high on transparency, job creation

    The World Bank Implementation Support Team, monitoring the implementation of State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) projects in the Niger Delta region, has ranked Edo State high on transparency and job creation for youths.

    The leader of the support team, Mr. Ismaila Ceesay, who led his members on a courtesy visit to the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, at the Government House in Benin City on Monday, said the state was doing well in the execution of component A1 of the projects.

    The Component A1 projects include the creation of direct jobs for unemployed youths in Edo State.

    According to Ceesay, the World Bank team was on a working visit to assess the execution of the various components of the SEEFOR Projects in the four implementing states of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.

    “Edo is one of the four states that produce its financial statements and have them audited within six to seven months of the fiscal year and have the report published,” Mr. Ceesay said.

    He urged Governor Obaseki to sustain the culture of financial accountability and remain a beacon of transparency in public finance.

    The team leader, however, noted that the state should ensure that all segments of the projects are active in the state.

    He pledged that his team was ready to work with the state execution team to address challenges that may arise in the process of executing the projects .

    In his remarks, Obaseki said his administration would work with the team to develop work plans for the reactivation of the TVET and FADAMMA activities in the state,

    The governor noted that the state has paid over N400 million as counterpart fund since his administration was inaugurated and commended the World Bank for releasing $1.6 million for the renovation of the Benin Technical College.

  • Boko Haram IDPs: Fadama to the rescue

    Boko Haram IDPs: Fadama to the rescue

    With Boko Haram largely neutralised, the federal government, through the Fadama financing scheme, has provided farm inputs and food for Gombe State-based 2,680 persons displaced by the terror group. VINCENT OHONBAMU reports

    The sting of the terror group is all but gone. After swooping on their villages, killing many of their relatives and forcing others to flee their homes, Boko Haram insurgents thought they had vanquished their victims. Indeed, they wreaked much havoc, but the displaced survivors have seen the table turn. The terrorists have been essentially neutralised, while the persons they displaced are being rehabilitated. In Gombe, the 2,680-strong IDPs community and their hosts have been given farm tools and other equipment including food items. The intervention, coming under the federal government’s Fadama III Additional Financing Programme, is to help the IDPs grow their food, put their lives together and get Boko Haram out of their minds. In modern parlance, the mediation is to empower them.

    No fewer than 2,080 of the 2,680 IDPs and host community households identified in Gombe state currently benefit from the distribution of farm and non-farm inputs to the tune of N353,315,351.

    Though a component of the Northeast Initiative aimed at rehabilitating and rebuilding the sub-region, this particular initiative is called Northeast Security and Livelihood Support Project.

    It is meant to further stimulate and rekindle interest in agriculture while giving the Boko Haram victims a new lease of life. The gesture is equally extended to members of the host communities because the presence of the IDPs who were not included in government’s original plan for the population has strained and drained their lives.

    Yakubu Ibn Muhammad, Communication Officer, Fadama III AF II Programme in Gombe said the aim of the project is to give the IDPs sustainable livelihood and make them self-reliant in their present locations, instead of continuing to give them food items, which is not sustainable.

    However, the package comes with food items, which is sufficient to serve each household for at least two months. This is to encourage and sustain them as they wait for the harvest.

    The Communication Officer said Fadama is intervening in four aspects of agriculture based on the needs and interests indicated by beneficiaries. He identified these areas as crop farming, fish farming, poultry farming and livestock breeding.

    He said Fadama began by sensitising the host communities on the need to assist the IDPs with portions of land for farming activities and equally encouraged the IDPs to cultivate at least a half hectare of land.

    The crop farmers were supported with quick maturing treated hybrid seeds of maize or rice, knapsack sprayers, and NPK and Urea brands of fertilisers while dry season farmers in addition got water pumps, water delivery hosts and suction pipes to suck water out of shallow water tables, where available.

    Those with interest in fish farming were further categorised into two. The ones that fish in rivers were given fishing boats, nets, gears, hooks, baskets, harpoons, etc, while the ones that raise fish in ponds got fish fingerlings, feeds and medications among other necessities.

    Poultry farmers got three weeks old chicks, feeds and medications while those into livestock breeding were given four small ruminants – either one he-goat/billy-goat and three she-goats or one ram and three sheep, depending on their choice. They were also given animal medications.

    Ibn Mohammed said a household in Fadama work plan comprised five to 15 members while 40 households make up a community. The 2,680 households earmarked to benefits from Fadama III AF II programme are spread across 67 communities across Gombe State.

    He said the Project started in the last quarters of 2016, but became disbursement effective on April 11, 2017 and never looked back from thence forth

    Hajiya Habiba Mohammed, State Project Coordinator of the Fadama urged the staff of the agency to fast track the disbursement across the entire 11 local government areas of Gombe state as there is no time to waste

    She said the first disbursement exercise went to 600 households in addition to ongoing one being extended to 2,080 households makes it a total of 2,680 benefitting households as captured in their plan.

    Most of these communities have since planted and are looking forward to a bumper harvest. For those that were given small ruminants, the story is very encouraging,” she said.

    A community leader, the Bala Waja, Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed Danjuma of Waja chiefdom commended the Fadama III AF project for positive impact on the lives of the people.

    He commended the agency for carrying along the traditional rulers in the implementation of the project and advocated for sustainability of the project, which he said has been benefiting the rural populace, even before now.

    Chairman of IDPs at Bajoga, headquarters of Funakaye local government area of Gombe state, Ali Yana who hails from Ajingin in Damboa LGA of Borno state said the intervention would go a long way in enhancing their quality of lives as IDPs.

    ‘These farm inputs are better for us because we can now have sustainable source of food; we appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari and the executing agency, Fadama for giving us a means of livelihood and a means towards self-reliance,” he said.

    At Biri Bolawa in Nafada local government area, Chairman of the IDPs, Bappah Maidoya from Kagi in Benishek local government of Borno state thanked the providers of the intervention package and Fadama for ensuring that the materials reached the targeted beneficiaries.

    He commended the Federal Government for the wonderful initiative intended to make their lives better and assured Fadama that they would make judicious use of the items.

    He nevertheless expressed the yearning to return home, saying: “if peace is restored today, I would be on my way, except there’s no means of transportation. In that regards, we are urging the Federal Government to speed up the process of rebuilding our land”

    Also anxious to go home is 27 years old Chairman of Sangaru IDPs Community from Jalam in Bauchi state. he had been a sweet potato farmer at home, but will now engage in rice farming. He said he would have to keep his items for the right time because dry season farming is where his interest and passion lie.

    He is presently rewriting his school certificate exams with the intention of advancing to study medicine. He urges all IDPs, especially the younger ones to use what comes to the judiciously and keep on holding on to their dreams

    For Aisha Bulama, a beneficiary from Talala, also at Ajigin in Damboa, Gombe state is home now. At over 60, there is no point going back home again said the widowed mother of five who lost her husband before the insurgency started.

    She thanked all those that made the gesture possible and prayed for the quick recovery of President Buhari, even as she expressed confidence about good harvest at the end of the season, despite that the empowerment items seemed a little late on arrival.

    An overwhelmed deaf and dumb, Sambo Ahmed Bajoga who witnessed the disbursement exercise at Bajoga wrote:  My name is Sambo Ahmed Bajoga, I am appreciating you. I am a dumb and deaf person, so why don’t I get some?”

    Fadama III AF is a tripartite project bankrolled mainly by the World Bank and Federal Government of Nigeria while the state government also provided some minimal fund.

  • World Bank, FADAMA train 200 unemployed graduates in agro-enterprise in Kogi

    World Bank, FADAMA train 200 unemployed graduates in agro-enterprise in Kogi

    The World Bank, in conjunction with the National FADAMA Coordination Office, has embarked on agro-enterprise development training for 200 women and unemployed graduates in Kabba, Kogi.

    Mr Tayo Adewumi, The National Project Coordinator of FADAMA, said at the onset of the training in ABU College of Agriculture, Kabba, that the training was executed under the FADAMA Graduate Unemployed Youth and Women Support Programme (FADAMA GUYS)

    He said that FADAMA GUYS was designed for the production of four core crops of cassava, rice, sorghum and tomato.

    The coordinator, who was represented by Mr Peter Ajibaiye, said that at the end of the training, the beneficiaries would be given grants by the World Bank to start their chosen agricultural enterprises.

    He said that the World Bank had released 200 billion dollars as grant to promote the production of the four core crops in the Nigeria.

    Adewumi said that the FADAMA GUYS initiative was aimed at reducing unemployment and promoting food security in the country.

    The Kogi Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr Kehinde Oloruntoba, who declared the training open, said that the Federal Government would reposition the youth to engage in productive ventures in its efforts to diversify the economy and use agriculture for wealth creation.

    He advised the trainees to make judicious use of the grants that would be given to them at the end of the training.

    He also said that the state had abundant resources which could facilitate of all aspects of agriculture production.

    The State Project Coordinator, Mr Paul Ogunmola, said the participants were lucky to be trained at ABU College of Agriculture, Kabba, which was renowned for quality teachers and urged them to engage in agro-business after the training.

    The Provost of the College, Dr (Mrs) Aderonke Mohammed, said that the training would empower the trainees to become employers of labour, adding that it would “continue to bear fruits and lead to further reduction of unemployment in Nigeria”.

    Some of the trainees told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that they would invest in the production of rice, cassava, aquaculture, poultry and livestock, among others

  • Fadama lll trains 300 unemployed graduates in Ondo

    The Fadama lll Additional Financing Project has trained no fewer than 300 unemployed graduates in Ondo State to acquire vocational skills in agricultural enterprises.

    Mr Olusiji Olatunji, the state Project Coordinator, disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the programme at the Federal University of Technology (FUTA) in Akure on Monday.

    He said the exercise would run for two weeks in three centres across the state.

    Olatunji said that the higher institutions selected for the programme were FUTA, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, and Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko.

    The coordinator said that the training programme was initiated by the Federal Government through the Fadama Graduate Unemployed Youth Support (Fadama GUYS) programme.

    “The training aims to empower unemployed young graduates in Nigeria by making them self-reliant and employers of labour.

    “Leaving these youths unattended to will give them opportunity to dissipate their energy in all forms of menace and social vices like drug trafficking, robbery, internet fraud and cultism, “he said.

    He said that government’s efforts to stem the spate of unemployment among the youths would go a long way in ameliorating the tense situation in the labour market.

    “Each beneficiary will be trained; taught to write a business plan on choice enterprise and given a starter pack of about N1 million as grant,” he said.

    Mr Akin Olotu, Senior Special Adviser on Agriculture in Ondo State said the state government was committed to the transformation of the agriculture sector.

    Olotu said Governor Rotimi Akeredolu was committed to making agriculture more attractive to the teeming youths in the state.

    “We are reviving the agriculture sector in the state through the engagement and participation of youths to take over from aged persons by making it attractive.

    “We are not thinking of production alone but rather thinking of the entire value chain, processor, marketing and agro entrepreneurship,” he said.

    According to him, if agriculture is made attractive, it will create jobs and produce raw materials for the agro-industry.

    Two beneficiaries, Mr Kolawole Samuel and Miss Busayo Adeyeye, said the training would help them to plan for their future and be self-employed

     

  • World Bank award for FADAMA

    World Bank award for FADAMA

    The Additional Financing to the Third Fadama Development Project  (P130788) has been honoured with the Africa VPU Team Award.

    The award was announced by the Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Diop. It will be recalled that Fadama-II got the Award in 2007 and Fadama -III secured the same in 2014.

    The Africa Region Award of Excellence is an annual event instituted by the African Region of the World Bank to reward excellence in project management and evidence of pro-poor impact of development projects. Fadama III-AF was selected as a demonstration of an important example of how client-driven agricultural and rural development projects can have significant development impacts on the national economy.

    The Additional Financing for the Third National Fadama Development Project (Fadama III) is one of the World Bank’s flagship operations with total finance of $200 million. Fadama III Additional Financing is a follow-up on to Fadama III project and it is being implemented in six core and twenty-two cluster states.

    The states were selected based on comparative advantage and high potential to increase production and productivity of cassava, rice, and sorghum and horticulture value chains and link them to better organised markets.