By Gabriel Ewepu

The Federal Government of Nigeria has expressed hope and confidence in the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, Value Chain North, VCN, to reduce poverty, boost rural economy, and raise standard of living of the people in the northern part of the country.

Speaking at the Federal Government-FAD/French Development Agency, AFD, Value Chain North, VCN, Technical Validation Workshop held in Abuja, the Director, Planning and Policy Coordination, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Ibrahim Tanimu, said the VCN project is going to be a game changer for the transformation of rural economy in the selected States for the project.

Tanimu, who was represented by a Deputy Director, Planning and Policy Coordinator, Okuboere Mukak, asserted that the VCD North project would greatly upscale modern agricultural practices towards boosting food production, creating sustainable market access including financial services.

He also expressed the Federal Government’s commitment and support to IFAD, AFD and development partners in the design and intervention in combating abject poverty in and enhancing food security in the region.

The VCN project is basically designed and focused on eight States including Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe, Borno and Kano, and basically, the VCN project’s goal is to contribute sustainably to poverty reduction, enhanced nutrition and better resilience of rural population in the northern States of the country.

Meanwhile, the rationale for IFAD and AFD involvement is not farfetched, the high level of fragility of the Nigerian context is more pronounced in the northern region, driven by; high levels of poverty, with 70 per cent of the extreme poor living in the region, and 17 out of the 19 States with a poverty ratio above the national one being in the region. The multi-dimensional poverty index of over 75 per cent in the region, is higher than the national average of 63 per cent; Serious insecurity issues and violence, notably Boko Haram and the Islamic State-West African province insurgency, farmers-herders conflict and banditry, all affecting the already fragile livelihoods.

Others are climate change, social exclusion, high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, myriad challenges to agricultural productivity, and environmental and natural resources decline.

Considering the impact of the high level of fragility in northern Nigeria on human and natural resource development, the Federal Government of Nigeria has requested to partner with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, and Agence Francaise de Development, AFD, to help build the resilience capacity of the rural communities in the region to the fragility challenges, mainly through the VC development approach hinged on a strong community-led and participatory strategy.

For IFAD the VCN offers the opportunity of scaling Climate Change Adaptation and Agribusiness Support Programme, CASP activities, and linking with the IFAD/AfDB-assisted SAPZ programme in Kano State, to boost the market of the VCN VCs.

For AFD, VCN is an opportunity to scale up the results/lessons of the closed Rural Access and Mobility Project, RAMP, and the ongoing Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, RAAMP, co-funded by AFD/World Bank, FGN/States.

He said: “Our duty is to validate the project report of the VCN which has great potential components for agricultural development that will mobilise farmers to increase their food production.

“It will also bring hope to the displaced citizens in these areas that: are faced with such challenges in the food supply chain.

“It will help farmers particularly smallholders who have been prevented by insurgency from accessing their farmlands and suffer abject poverty in the rural areas and help them with freedom and access to food, market facility and farm input delivery.

“Therefore, the hope of the Nigerian government with IFAD as a key development partner is to transform the food systems pathways that will increasingly address the complex challenges facing the populace in the zones in an equitable manner.”

Meanwhile, the Country Director, IFAD, Nigeria, Dr Dede Ekoue, explained that the essence and objectives of the workshop were basically to put across insight, understanding, and orientation about the VCN project design.

Ekoue also said it is to lay the foundation, which will enable partners to form synergy in terms of implementation.

She said: “Also boosting inclusive growth and increasing opportunities for youth employment.

“The project is in support of the government’s efforts in implementing agri-food national policies and the Presidential Declaration on Food Security Emergency.”

On the sidelines of the Workshop, the Commissioner, Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Shehu Muazu, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Joel Aiki, commended the move by the Federal Government, IFAD and AFD on VCN project design and validation of the document, which gives hope to the North-East and North-West regions, which had suffered insurgency, banditry, climate change and devastating poverty.