The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FADAMA

  • NAPEP to assist 200 farmers in 12 states

    The National Coordinator of the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Malam Muktar Abubakar, has said the agency will soon begin a Grassroots Agricultural Micro-credit Programme for 200 farmers in 12 states.

    The Coordinator disclosed this in Abuja on Saturday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    He said NAPEP had started the project in 12 states to alleviate the sufferings of the vulnerable population in rural areas.

    He declared, “We will be piloting this project in 12 states, namely Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Niger, Ogun, Plateau and Zamfara.”

    Abubakar said the micro-credit programme was designed to nurture financial and entrepreneurial education for rural communities.

    He said NAPEP would empower and educate rural farmers to utilise resources in order to improve their economic standards and promote farming as a business.

    Abubakar said the programme would also enable FADAMA farmers to utilise grants and loans from government and ultimately on their own, seek out micro and macro credit loans from private banks.

    He said in the process of developing the project, NAPEP was able to bring partners such as FADAMA, that has a track record of working with farmers at the grassroots level.

     

    “We have been able to assess and provide a list of credible micro finance banks known for their close relationships with the poor to partner with NAPEP.

    “It is this model that we embrace, because we want to let Nigerians know that we are here to assist them and help them grow, teach them to help themselves and others.”

  • How to grow agric at local level, by don

    A consultant on Fadama, the Federal Government/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Community-based Action Programme, Prof. Abel Babalola Ogunwale, has said agricultural development at the rural level is poorly-managed.

    Ogunwale spoke with reporters yesterday in Ogbomoso, Oyo State. He said people’s participation in agricultural extension activities must be encouraged.

    Ogunwale identified other problems of agricultural development as poor and erratic funding, ineffective extension supervision, much emphasis on export crops and neglect of food crops.

    He said: “The consequence is that Nigeria’s huge economic potential, evidenced in the vast unexploited productive capacities, is held down by institutional and infrastructural rigidities, as well as the high capital associated with many of these programmes.

    Ogunwale said: “The over N1.1 trillion being spent on the importation of wheat, rice, fish and sugar yearly could have been better invested in local food production.

    “A total of $47,930 was spent on animal fats and oils for five years.

    These amounts; $4,521,840; $2,802,800; $1,083,176,900; $1,623,520 and $2,182,525 were spent on maize grain, maize flour, rice, vegetable fats and oils and wheat importation between 2000 and 2005. What a shameful development.”

  • N32b loan for FADAMA projects

    N32b loan for FADAMA projects

    The Federal Government has approved a $200 million (N32 billion) credit from the International Development Association (IDA) for additional financing of the Third National Fadama Development project.

    The Minister of State for Finance YerimaNgama said the loan is aimed at improving on the achievements recorded under the previous phases of the Fadama projects.

     He said: “The Project Development Objective (PDO) for the additional financing is consistent with the ongoing Fadama 111 project, which is to increase the incomes for users of rural lands and water resources within the Fadama areas in a sustainable manner.

    ”The proposed additional financing will scale up the project’s achievements and strengthen the development effectiveness of the highly performing Fadama 111 by aligning it more closely with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the present administration. Council approved that the CME/ MFN execute the financing agreement and also directed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to issue the legal opinion required to render the loan effective.”

    Also, the Minister of Agriculture AkinwunmiAdesina said six states, including Lagos, Niger, Anambra, Enugu, Kano and Kogi will benefit from the project, while it will reach 317,000 farmers and impact on 1.7 million beneficiaries.

    He said: “It is important for us to optimise the 24,000 million hectares of Fadama land across the country. The evaluation of the project itself by the World Bank showed that the beneficiary income under Fadama II project has increased by 20 per cent. Forty-Seven per cent of the farmers that were involved in the Fadama project have also been able to increase their incomes by about 40 per cent. All the states that are participating in Fadama project have all paid their counterpart funding.

    ”The crops we are focusing on are very critical for Nigeria for reducing our import dependency and also for creating jobs. Those crops are rice, cassava, sorghum and horticulture. There are six states that will benefit from this particular facility.

    ”For rice, the states will include Lagos, Niger, Anambra, Enugu and Kano. For sorghum, it will be Kano state and for horticulture we are focusing big time on Kano State. For cassava, it is Kogi State. What is unique about this project is the number of farmers it will reach. This project will reach 317,000 farmers and will impact on 1.7 million beneficiaries. So it is a programme that will have scale of impacts.

  • Abuja farmers for training

    The tough challenges faced by farmers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may soon be over if feelers from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture are anything to go by.

    With improved mechanised methods, the farmers will no longer have to till the land from dawn till dusk to cultivate limited farm produce while the nomadic Fulani herdsmen will not need to walk for miles to feed their livestock.

    The Federal Capital Territory through the Ministry of Agriculture and the FADAMA III project, our correspondent gathered, have intensified efforts in reducing the hardship faced by such farmers and educate how to make farming a lucrative business.

    FCT natives who are mostly farmers are being assisted by the administration to learn and adopt the mechanised system of farming which is more productive and less stressful.

    According to the Minister of Agriculture Akinwumi Adesina, “The Ministry will invest N3.5 billion for mechanised agriculture because farming must be modernised to renew the structure of the demographics that is involved in agriculture.”

    With this new development, FCT farmers will benefit from the units of tractors and centres for distribution in the country and with the policy, farmers get coupons that is in their cell phones which they use to rent the tractors at such centres.

    Through the FADAMA III project in Kwali Area Council of the FCT, which was visited by the Minister of State for the FCT Olajumoke Akinjide on June13, it is interesting to note that natives of Bonugu in Kwali who are basically Fulani farmers and herdsmen are being trained in different groups comprising of men, women and youths on large ruminant upgrading, where they are taught on the process of artificial insemination to upgrade their cattle.

    They are also trained on small ruminant production like the sheep, on how to preserve their milk (the Nono), fish production, poultry management and also feed processing for their livestock.

    The Fulani community who came dressed in their best and excited to showcase their achievements, insisted that they developed a special interest in the large ruminant upgrading through artificial insemination after witnessing the success recorded by the FCT FADAMA III project in its programme with some groups at Paikon Kore Grazing Reserve.

    According to Jeodal Gondal, president of the FADAMA Community Association in Bonugo Kwali, “before the intervention of FADAMA during the dry season, we moved our cattle as far as Ankpa in Kogi State in search of pasture and water. However with the borehole and drinking trough provided through FADAMA’s support, the problem of water for our animals is now a thing of the past. The project has also supported us with feed crushing machine which we will use to crush grains stuck for the feeding of our animals during the dry season.”

    In another community in Kwali called Bukpe, women were trained in cassava production and ways of producing the cassava flour in large quantity. The FADAMA programme trained them on processing, frying and the best ways to preserve and package their cassava flour for the wider markets. One of the women leaders of Bukpe community after their presentation to the Minister of State Olajumoke Akinjide was so excited for the progress she had made and ran to hug the minister without permission but was restrained.

    The minister praised the participants for their commitment and said that the future is bright for agriculture and can provide the much needed employment that the country craves for. She also discouraged the farmers on the mismanagement of wealth by marrying more wives when

    they realise that they are making more money because those wives will produce more children that will further put a strain on the wealth.

    According to her, “when men make money, they marry more wives but the woman make money, she takes care of the family.”

  • Fadama, ADB donate relief materials to flood victims

    Fadama programme in conjunction with African Development Bank (ADB) has donated relief materials to 2,000 farmers affected by the 2012 flood in 10 local government areas of Katsina State.

    The items included 6,000 bags of fertiliser; 4,000 bags of improved seedlings; 3,000 litres of pesticides and 10 multi-purpose thrashers.

    The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Musa Adamu, who launched the distribution, said the gesture would complement the State and Federal Governments’ efforts in cushioning the damage caused by the flood.

    Adamu said 90 per cent of people engage in farming which attracted increased investment to the sector from the three tiers of government and agencies such as Fadama.

    He said the state government had rehabilitated 27 irrigation sites including three Federal Government site, and provided various assistance for both rainy and dry season farmers.

    He said the assistance involved inputs, loan schemes and extension worker services.

    Alhaji Bala Shu’aibu, who represented the National Fadama Programme Coordinator, said 600 bags of fertiliser were allocated to each affected local government where 300 bags would be distributed free.

    Shu’aibu said 300 bags would be sold at subsidised rate of N2, 000 per bag.

    He also said that 400 bags of improved seedlings and 300 litres of pesticides would be distributed free, while a thrasher would be installed in each of the affected local government areas.

    He said the affected local governments were; Faskari, Kafur, Rimi, Mani, Kankia, Kankara, Mai’aduwa, Baure, Kaita and Katsina, adding that 200 people would benefit in each of the affected areas.

    Alhaji Sani Danjari, the state Secretary, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), commended the state government for drilling wells at irrigation farms, reviving agricultural shows and other forms of support to farmers in the state.

    The Transition Committee Chairman of Kankara Local Government, Alhaji Abdulhadi Abdullahi, thanked Fadama for the support, which he said, was timely.

     

  • Fadama: Council chief praises Fed Govt, World Bank

    The Management Committee Chairman, Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State, Simon Tangni, has praised the World Bank and Federal Government’s poverty reduction campaign via the Fadama III projects.

    Tangni gave the commendation at a meeting of the Plateau Federated Fadama Community Association (FCA), in Pankshin. He said the programme had transformed the lives of farmers across the country, noting that many of them had hitherto wallowed in abject penury.

    “Until the advent of Fadama programme, our farmers had always viewed agriculture as a tradition and its practices had remained at the subsistence level.This had made it very difficult for farmers to make a living out of it, which is why poverty was their lot.

    “But the Fadama project has changed that. Our farmers have now understood the magic of viewing agriculture as a business and currently, a new class of agro-business men and women is emerging.

    “The crop farmers, the vegetable farmers, livestock farmers, fish farmers, agro-processors and the beekeepers, among others, funded, trained and supported by Fadama III across the country, are now smiling to the bank.“The World Bank and the Federal Government deserve a commendation for this wonderful initiative,’’ he said.

    Tangni, who was represented by the council’s Secretary, Mr Joshua Barde, said the programme had financially empowered rural dwellers through its numerous wealth creation projects. He called on the Fadama beneficiaries to maintain, sustain and expand their various projects to stand the test of time so that the aim of the programme would be fully achieved.

    Earlier, Mr Gideon Dandam, the Plateau Fadama III Co-ordinator, represented by the Public Affairs officer, Mr Raphael Jahkim, charged the Fadama Community Association officials to be committed in the discharge of their duties to ensure the survival of the sub-projects under their associations.

  • BATN donates cassava plant to Nasarawa

    BATN donates cassava plant to Nasarawa

    The British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) has boosted the Nasarawa State FADAMA III project with a cassava-processing plant as well as a borehole with a 5,000 water storage tank.

    The facility is powered by an electricity generator also donated by the tobacco firm.

    BATN said it decided to intervene in cassava processing to ensure higher income and better quality of life for the citizens.

    The executive director of BATN, Gbenga Ibikunle, during the commissioning of the cassava processing plant in Lafia, explained that the industry will greatly improve efficiency in the processing of agricultural produce as it is also geared towards reducing wastage and increasing productivity.

    Donating the facility to Ezzen Fadama III Users Group of Bulan Sidi community in Lafia, he emphasised the need to properly take care of the industry and regard the project as their own, rather than seeing it as not belonging to anybody in particular.

    “Let me implore all members of this community to take very good care of this plant and all the facilities that are being handed over today,” he said.

    He equally told them that the new system of processing cassava into garri and other derivatives will engender higher product quality, higher income and better quality of life for members of the Ezzen Fadama III Users Groups, Bukan Sidi community.

    The mission of the foundation, according to him, “is to improve the quality of life of citizens in rural and urban areas of Nigeria through the implementation of various community development projects in four areas.”

    The four areas, he explained, are sustainable agricultural development, sustainable potable water supply, sustainabe environmental protection and sustainable educational development.

    On the donated facilities, Ibikunle said that “they are now the property of the entire Ezzen Fadama III Users Groups, Bukan Sidi community and you must use them faithfully and guard them jealously.”

    He added that the BATN foundation is confident that “the industry will bring the best sustainable benefits to you all.”