THE Community Based Agriculture and Rural Development Project of the African Development Bank, has donated agricultural inputs worth N15.2 million to farmers in Adamawa.

The Permanent Secretary, Adamawa State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Louis Mandama, announced this on Tuesday in Yola while distributing the items to the beneficiaries on behalf of the bank.

Mandama said that that the gesture was to boost food production in line with the Federal Government’s plan toward food security, adding that the project was being implemented in nine Local Government Areas of the state. The permanent secretary who said that over 200 communities were currently participating in the project, called on the state and local governments to pay their outstanding counterpart fund to the project.

“We are quite optimistic that with the AfDB project in the state, the state and nine benefitting local governments will pay their counterpart funds toward the successful implementation of the project,” he added. The Programme Manager, Adamawa Agricultural Development Programme, Alhaji Mustafa Raja, said that the AfDP project was aimed at contributing to the Federal Government’s policy on National Food Security and to provide rural infrastructure.

Raja, who named Madagali, Mubi South, Maiha, Hong, Girei, Numan, Demsa, Jada and Tuongo, as the benefitting councils, expressed optimism that the project would also reduce poverty and improve the living standard of rural dwellers. The National Desk Officer for the project, Malam Ibrahim Arabi, said that the project was being implemented in Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara States.

“The project is 81 per cent being funded by the AfDB while the federal, states and local governments are expected to pay three per cent, six per cent and 11 per cents respectively, as counterpart funds. The project started in 2007 and is expected to end in 2011 but following tremendous achievements recorded, it has been extended to December 2012,” he said.

Some of the items distributed to the beneficiaries include, groundnut oil extractors, grinding and milling machines; metal made mobile silos water pumps and sprayers. Others are 100 rams, 54 cows and 28 pigs, distributed to the beneficiaries for fattening.