From Abel Leonard, Lafia
Nasarawa State Government has promised to sustain the achievements of the Federal Government, International Fund for Agricultural Development-Value Chain Development Programme (FG/IFAD-VCDP) when the programme ends.
Governor Abdullahi Sule gave the assurance when the joint FG/IFAD Implementation Support Mission paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday in Lafia as part of their two-day visit to the state.
He expressed gratitude to the Federal Government and IFAD for the inclusion of Nasarawa State in the programme, adding that the impact on the lives of the rural poor and vulnerable had been enormous.
According to the governor, he has monitored the programme closely and the success stories of some of the beneficiaries are justification for the investment in terms of counterpart funding.
Earlier, the leader of the team, Dr Samuel Eremie, told the governor that the mission was in the state to evaluate the implementation progress of the programme with a view to making it better.
Related: FG, IFAD move to improve VCDP implementation in Nasarawa
He explained that the VCDP intervention focused on empowering poor rural smallholder farmers, producers, processors and markets in the Cassava and rice value chain.
Eremie thanked the state governor for paying the N176 million counterpart fund for 2019/2020 and the same amount for 2021/2022.
He assured the governor that the investment was worth it, given the impact of the programme.
He revealed a particular case of a physically challenged woman who was able to build her house, went to school and expanded her cassava business from the proceeds of the programme.
“This is a pointer to what Nasarawa State can achieve with minimal support to the external support from FG, IFAD,” he said.
Eremie said that the project had reached about 2,000 beneficiaries in the state and the target was to reach 9,000 beneficiaries.
He called for more support from the state government to ramp up efforts in order to meet the target.
”If you can touch the lives of more rural people in Nasarawa, you will have no business talking about hunger or poverty in the state,” Eremie added.