“•••• As Nasarawa Assembly urges State Gov’t. to give more attention to NADP ••••”

FGN/IFAD Assisted Value Chain Development Programme ( VCDP) says that it has supported over 7000 rice and cassava farmers since the inception of the programme in the state in 2021.

Dr Eunice Adigidzi, the State Programme Coordinator disclosed this on Wednesday when the management of the Programme, Nasarawa State Programme Monitoring Unit ( SPMU) appeared before the Nasarawa State House of Assembly Committee on Agriculture on the 2026 budget performance in Lafia.

She appreciated Gov Abdullahi Sule and the Committee for supporting its activities to succeed in the State.

Adigidzi, represented by her Technical Assistant, Mr Victor Habila Alaku said that the programme has supported the farmers with good agricultural practices, fertilizers, rice seedlings among others.

” VCDP is an initiative of the Federal Government in partnership with IFAD. The Programme is aimed at increasing the income of small holders rural farmers who are engaging in rice and Cassava Value Chain.

” In Nasarawa State, the Project is operating in five local government, Lafia, Doma, Wamba, Nasarawa and Karu LGAs.

” So far, since the inception of the programme in 2021, we have supported over 7000 farmers including youths and women, even elderly that are engaging in the production of rice, processing and marketing and same way Cassava,” he said

He added that the Programme supported youths and women in order to enhance their agricultural activities.

” We gave them support in the area of good agricultural practices, fertilizers, rice seedlings among others.

” In addition to that, we provided processing centres, irrigation centres among others,” he added

The State Programme Coordinator restated her commitment to support Gov. Abdullahi Sule’s visionary leadership in agriculture to succeed.

Responding, the Committee Chairman, Dr Ibrahim Peter- Akwe commended the programme for boosting agricultural production and impacting positively on the lives of the people of the state.

” We want to appreciate your efforts towards impacting positively on the lives of our people.

He assured the Programme of the committee’s continued support to succeed.

Also appearing before the committee was the management of Nasarawa Agricultural Development Programme (NADP), where the committee chairman, Dr Ibrahim Peter-Akwe, has urged the state government to give more attention via funding the activities of the Programme in the state.

Akwe said that agriculture was the backbone of every nation, hence the need for his call to focus on it.

DAkwe also assured them of the committee’s commitment to address the challenges facing NADP in the state .

Earlier, Mr Zakari Daibu-Usman, the Acting Programme Manager and Director of Extension Service appreciated the committee for supporting its activities to succeed.

He also appreciated Gov Abdullahi Sule for funding the programme and called for more attention to the activities of the service to succeed.

He, however, identified inadequate sustainability funds, infrastructure decay, among others are some of the challenges facing the Service.