The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said it has directly invested $459 million in Nigeria through domestic and international co-financings.
IFAD Nigeria Country Director, Ms Dede Ekoue, said this yesterday at a-3 day Financial Management and Procurement Workshop for Federal Government of Nigeria/IFAD projects in Abuja.
The workshop was organised by IFAD in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Finance, Budget and National Planning with the support of the Country Programme Advisory Team (CPAT).
Participants were drawn from the LIFE-ND and VCDP national and state project’s management team from 15 states;
Others were representatives of the IFAD country office, IFAD Financial Management Services Division (FMD), Procurement Team, the Federal Ministries of Finance and Agriculture and CPAT.
According to her, IFAD currently funds two effective projects in Nigeria, which are Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), and the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise-Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) in the south.
“IFAD currently funds VCDP in the central part of Nigeria, LIFE-ND in the south, Special Agro-Processing Zones Programme in Kano and Ogun States expected to commence while Climate Change Adaptation and Agribusiness Support Programme (CASP) in the north closed in March 2022.
“Its direct investment in Nigeria (loan and grant) through these programmes amount to $459 million leveraging a total budget of $1billion through domestic and international co-financing including the CASP project,” she said.
Ekoue said it also linked households to agro-processing firms and further supported them to adopt climate resilient practices, adding that VCDP beneficiaries were about 100,000, comprising farmers and processors.
The FGN/IFAD-LIFE-ND programme which focuses on nine states in the Niger Delta supports youth and women establishing profitable agribusinesses in the region through apprenticeship in agri-enterprises.
It also gives them support in the areas of production and market infrastructure and access to financial services in seven commodities – poultry, fisheries, cassava, rice, plantain, cocoa and oil palm.
The Country Director identified the partnership between IFAD and Nigeria as one of the largest partnerships of the organisation globally.
She expressed IFAD’s continuous commitment to work with the Federal Government to improve the lives of rural communities, enhance the contribution of agriculture to inclusive growth and job creation, and ensure sustainability and resilience to crises and climate.
Objectives of the workshop are to strengthen and improve the quality of project procurement and financial management practices, to emphasize fit-for-purpose choice, quality and greater value for public spending while enabling adaptation to Nigeria contexts.
Ekoue said the workshop was organised to further scale up the impact of the partnership for Nigerian smallholder farmers through improved procurement and financial management practices in the implementation of VCDP and LIFE-ND projects under FGN/IFAD cooperation.
“Objectives of the workshop are to strengthen and improve the quality of project procurement and financial management practices to emphasize fit-for-purpose choice, quality and greater value for public spending while enabling adaptation to Nigeria contexts,” she said.
Other objectives were to deepen project staff’s knowledge on project procurement and financial management, identify and address key challenges to effective and timely implementation of actions recommended by supervision and support missions among others.
In his address, Director, Projects Coordinating Unit (PCU) FMARD, Ubandoma Ularamu, said the three projects currently funded by IFAD had contributed immensely to improving the livelihood of the rural population in Nigeria.
Ularamu commended IFAD and its country office for consistent efforts and great strides towards reducing poverty and fostering economic growth in the country “especially among rural smallholder farmers.
According to him, since 1985, IFAD has worked closely with the federal government towards the development of the agricultural sector and the reduction of rural poverty. (NAN)
