By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE National Agricultural Land Development Authority, NALDA, has engaged stakeholders in the agric space on strengthening agricultural input supply modalities.

The Executive Secretary, NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, in his address at the ‘NADF-Farm Input Supply Programme Roundtable
Engagement with Processors’ in Lagos recently.

Ibrahim who was represented by the Head, Corporate Services, NADF, Abiodun Sosanya, explained that the pilot intervention of the rollout was targeted at enhancing input supply and agricultural productivity throughout the grower systems.

He said: “As we reflect on the implementation of the first phase of this programme, the NADF remains firmly committed to evidence-based learning and continuous process improvement for optimal efficiency in the delivery of our mandate.”

However, the NADF boss noted some challenges during intervention of the pilot scheme, which affected planting cycles and expected yields.

“These challenges are real, and they underscore the complexity of implementing agricultural interventions such as the NADF-Farm Inputs Supply programme”, he said.

He reassured that NADF remains committed to partner with processors in ensuring accountability and continuous process improvements in all its interventions.

He also called on the processors not to hesitate to engage services of the Fund, basically to get robust and practical outcomes that would help the Fund to boost input systems, agricultural productivity and national agricultural transformation at large.

“The NADF remains optimistic that your insights, experiences, and recommendations will play an important role in shaping a more efficient, transparent, and climate-responsive second phase of the program – ensuring better impact and sustainability”, he added.

In a remark, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Vemac Farms Ltd, Oyo State, Femi Ojelade, emphasized that it is important for stakeholders including processors, smallholder farmers and the government must work on synergy.

He said the collaboration will definitely improve food production and security in Nigeria, and added that the NADF should ensure processors get inputs ahead of the farming season.

“We understand it’s the first phase. But the second phase; they have to work assiduously to make sure that most processors actually get their input at least a month before the planting season”, Ojelade said.

In another remark, the Managing Director, Arog Bio Allied Agro Services Limited, Aroge Temitope, acknowledged how the scheme had supported processors.

According to Temitope, the scheme had brought about uninterrupted flow of raw materials along the agribusiness value-chain.

“So, for us, it is a good project and its actually very supportive of food security and wealth creation in the rural areas”, adding that the project was timely, enabling his company access input and support for its outgrower base.

He also disclosed that his company embarked on cultivation of cassava for 2025, 2026 season by leveraging the NADF Agro 1.0 in terms of having enough cassava across three states of Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti States.

The Head, Strategy and Planning, NADFA, Adebanke Fajana, disclosed that the Fund intends to reach 5 million small-holder farmers with its Agro 2.0 scheme.

Meanwhile, Fajana said the NADF is leveraging the organised private sector, which is the processors, to reach small-holder farmers.

She added that the NADF is working collaboratively with the processors to ensure that some of the challenges, bottlenecks, or lessons taken from the field in its pilot phase, can be curated for coordinated and improved iteration of the scheme.

“We have a very robust system of monitoring and evaluation, where we have regional monitors, we have state monitors, which have boots on ground that go into the field to look at what the cultivation level is, what the impute usage is, adoption of good agronomic practices, and a lot of other things to ensure that not only do we just dispense or make provisions for this impute, we also ensure proper impute utilization and good agronomic practices adoption for the end-users”, she said.