Farmers, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and others have benefitted from the World Bank assisted Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project in Enugu State.
The Enugu State Deputy Governor, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, disclosed this during a two-day World Bank 9th Implementation Support Mission held in Enugu.
She explained that the APPEALS Project has impacted greatly on the agricultural sector in Enugu State.
Ezeilo said: “Many farmers in the state have also benefited through capacity training, technology demonstration, construction of aggregation and processing centres.”
She said support from the APPEALS Project helped farmers to enhance their productivity across the three priority value chains — rice, cashew and poultry.
She added that 15 aggregation/cottage processing centres were currently being constructed across various locations in the state.
“I wish to assure the World Bank Task Team Leader for APPEALS Project, Manievel Sene, that we are doing everything possible to ensure the construction of 13.3 kilometres of access roads.
“We are working to fast track the implementation of energy and more,” she said.
…support from the APPEALS Project helped farmers to enhance their productivity across the three priority value chains — rice, cashew and poultry.
In his remark, the National Project Coordinator, APPEALS Project, Mohammed Jobdi, said the plenary was aimed at interacting and reviewing what the programme has done.
He explained that the gathering offered an opportunity to interact with experts on what the state had achieved and address issues preventing the state from achieving its objective.
Speaking also, Sene reiterated the World Bank’s interest to support the project in the state, saying: “I am proud of the APPEALS Project in Enugu State, and we will continue to ensure that the project succeeds in the state.”
Earlier, the Acting State Coordinator, Enugu APPEALS Project, Mrs Ihuoma Eze, said the current project implementation status across the components will be reviewed and opened for advice from the team.
This, she said, will help to achieve the project’s development objective to improve farmers’ productivity, including SMEs to enhance value.
“The implementation will also enhance agricultural value chains of poultry, rice and cashew,” she said, adding that activities of the APPEALS Project are in line with the agenda of the state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a team from the Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Finance, Budget and National Planning and others attended the programme.
