Small Holder Farmers Benefit World Bank Project

Small Holder Farmers Benefit World Bank Project

Over 50,000 Small and Medium Scale Commercial farmers in Nigeria are to benefit from the World Bank assisted Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) while many households will benefit indirectly through access to farm access roads, energy and market through spillover effects.

As the 3 rd Joint World Bank/Nigerian government Supervision mission ended in Enugu, eastern Nigeria, the Task Team Leader, Dr. Lucas Akapa said the project was making steady progress towards achieving its objectives, among which is the strengthening of agricultural production systems and facilitating access to markets for targeted value chains among the small and medium scale commercial farmers in the five participating states.

Dr. Akapa enjoined the participating states to double efforts toward establishing strong and sustainable foundation for the implementation of the Project as well as enhance quick disbursement of funds to the farmers.

While interacting with various commodity interest groups in the states visited, Dr. Akapa said the mission was aimed at taking stock of the project implementation progress for effectiveness, identifying issues preventing smooth project implementation and agreeing on actions to be taken to expedite smooth implementation.  

In his words, “ Promoting commercial agriculture which is public – private sector driven is considered critical in raising agricultural productivity , stimulating economic growth and ensuring food security .  As population density increases, there is need for increased agricultural production to meet future food needs as well as enhance income and alleviate poverty ” .

He commended the governments of the implementing states for their interest and support towards the project and urged project staff and the Commodity Interest Groups to hasten implementation and deliver result to the beneficiaries.

During the various interactive sessions with farmers and other stakeholders in the states visited, the National Project Coordinator of CADP, Dr. Aminu Babandi also said that, the mission was to assess the project performance with a view to ascertaining the progress made and address constraints affecting the overall success of commercial agriculture in the country.

He said it was only by taking stock of the implementation progress and self appraisal of performance that the project development objectives would be achieved.   

The Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) is being implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Cross River and Enugu states and supports three value chains per state as follows: Cross River - oil palm, cocoa and rice; Enugu - fruit trees , poultry and maize; Kaduna - fruit trees, dairy and maize; Kano , rice, dairy and maize and Lagos - poultry, aquaculture and rice.

About 3,000 Commodity Interest Groups (CIGs) across the five states have been registered to benefit from the project.  

The $150 million project, which commenced on July 30, 2009 is expected to close on December 31, 2014 .

PR/Hauwa/Yinka