…as FG extends programme for inclusivity, tackle climate change

…team to visit Ogun, Nasarawa States on implementation support mission

By Gabriel Ewepu, Abuja

The Federal Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, has resolved to accelerate results and upscale progress recorded in the Value Chain Development Programme, VCDP, in nine States.

This was made known by the Country Director, IFAD, Dede Ekoue, on the sidelines of ‘IFAD/FGN Supervision Mission of Value Chain Development Programme’ held in Abuja.

According to Ekoue, the meeting is in view of implementation support mission for the Value Chain Development Programme that is co-financed by the Federal Government of Nigeria and IFAD.

She also explained that VCDP remains an important programme that supports farmers towards greater productivity, better resilience, to improve their livelihoods and sustain improved food security in Nigeria. 

This is the fifth supervision of FGN/IFAD Value Chain Development Programme, VCDP, which IFAD does supervision mission twice in a year, and the purpose of the mission is to assess performance against annual targets which could be between six months or a year in order to have first hand assessment of programme implementation, where the team will speak with beneficiaries of the Programme as being reported, identify challenges encountered, and come up with better strategies to succeed.

Also a team of experts are on the supervision mission to independently who also make recommendations based on their report submitted to IFAD who in turn take same to the Federal Ministry of Finance, and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which specific recommendations are made which serves as guide for programme implementation, and if there is another mission coming IFAD request for those recommendations in order to ascertain whether there was any implementation of those recommendations.

She said: “It is in line with national policies and why we are here today is because the Federal Government of Nigeria and IFAD want to work together to see how to accelerate the results and scale up the progress that is that this programme is doing. 

“It is very important to note that the VCDP programme is them is an important programme that has won many awards and achievements in terms of gender transformation, youth, and has also helped many farmers connect to the private sector through partnership with off-takers also work to improve resilience to climate change.

“And we are here today because we want to bring this results to a higher level and then the VCDP team, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture all came together with IFAD to see how we can leverage the resources to impact many more farmers and also to yield deeper and more positive transformation of the livelihoods of farmers, this is key for food security, and food security is a hot topic when we think of the Ukraine and Russia War and the consequences for farmers and for food security in general. 

“So this is really the subject for our mission and we are thrilled by the commitment of the VCDP team and of the Government of Nigeria to really foster greater results for the farmers, rural communities and population in general.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria has a strategy to boost food security to improve the productivity of farmers to enhance the livelihood and this is done through financing, so the Federal Government of Nigeria is also co- financing with VCDP. 

“In addition, the federal government of Nigeria has technical staff at the Ministry who are also supporting giving guidance to the VCDP programme.”

 Meanwhile, she acknowledged the nine States for contributing to the success of VCDP, and she disclosed that the team from IFAD would visit Ogun and Nasarawa States for assessment of implementation and other issues.

“What is really important is to know that IFAD is here to also work with the Federal Government of Nigeria to expand the results, deepen the results, and what we are going to be doing during this mission is to mobilize our expertise. 

“So we have here with us a mission of at least seven international experts who are here on the field to discuss with VCDP staff, with the farmers and some of the local authorities on what has been achieved and some of the challenges and to improve”, she stated.

Meanwhile, she made it known that the Programme has additional financing of $50 million, and explained essence of the additional financing

 “We have an additional financing of $50 million and what is really important and we will continue to work on finding ways to scale up the financing. But financing scale up is based on our capacity to fully use the financing that we have and to also demonstrate impact on the fields. That is why we are going to the field to really see how we can scale up the impact. 

“I want to say that we are very proud to be part of this partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria and the nine States that are actually working for us on the Value Chain Development Programme.

 “This Programme is very inclusive; strong representation of women and youth, and as you may recall, we had the National Youth Forum that was organized by VCDP”, she added. 

The acting Director, Project Monitoring Unit, PCU, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Peter Kush, said it was imperative for the Ministry of Agriculture to collaborate with IFAD on the implementation of VCDP.

Kush also also acknowledged that,  “There was a lot of achievements in the first phase of the VCDP and the government felt it necessary to expand and make it inclusive in terms of youth and gender, and equally mainstream into areas like climate change and nutrition.”

However, he pointed that the Ministry’s intention was to cover the whole country and not just nine States, but due to limited funds that has not happened.

Meanwhile, the Senior Procurement Specialist, West and Central Africa, IFAD, Carine Toure, said Nigeria’s portfolio remains important to IFAD, and added that on her assessment  “VCDP is doing well, because it is based on the past experience and results that IFAD and the Government of Nigeria decided to extend so it is doing well but we are here to provide more support and assistance so that they will continue on that track.”

Also speaking was the National Coordinator, VCDP, Dr Fatima Aliyu, represented by the Financial Controller, VCDP, Usman Mohammed, explained that,  “Most of the implementation is at the State, in fact, 90 per cent of the spendings come from the States, therefore if the States did not submit requirements for funds we can’t go anywhere. 

“So this is dependent on the submissions from the States so as the States implement they ask for replenishment and we replenish.

“We are being guided by the Annual Work Plan and Budget, AWPB, of the year.”