Dry season farmers in Nasarawa State have commended the Federal Government of Nigeria and the International Fund for Agricultural Development for supporting them with the needed farming inputs to scale up rice production in the state.

The FGN, in collaboration with IFAD, had empowered several farmer organisations with inputs in five out of the 13 Local Government Areas of the state in order to tackle issues of rice shortages and to ensure food security across the state.

Speaking during a stakeholders field visit to the Dry Season Rice Farmlands in the Lower Benue Phase one, and Rice Aggregation Center in the Doma LGA on Wednesday, the farmers under the Alekuwole Esewoga Cooperative Society, expressed their gratitude to the FGN/IFAD Value Chain Development Programme for the empowerment which had helped in increasing their yields.

The Chairman of the group, Yakubu Abubakar told Journalists shortly after the field visit, that before the coming of the VCDP to the state, there were complaints of Rice shortage among farmer groups in the area, but the regular support from the programme had completely changed the narrative as farmers now have more than enough rice to eat and sell during the rainy and dry seasons.

He said, “Presently, members of my group are operating in five hectares of land here in Doma LGA. We now have enough rice both during the rainy and dry seasons. All these could not have been possible if not for the FGN/IFAD Value Chain Development Programme, which has constantly given us the needed support to succeed.

“We are grateful for the support thus far, and we want to assure them that on our own part as farmers in the five benefiting VCDP LGAs, we will continue to do our best to ensure that we have enough rice that will be able to serve the entire residents of the state.”

On her part, the State Coordinator of the FGN/IFAD Value Chain Development Programme, Dr. Eunice Adgidzi, said the gesture was aimed at ensuring that Rice farmers are able to boost their capacities and cultivate enough food for the increasing population in the state.


https://punchng.com/nasarawa-farmers-commend-fg-ifad-for-boosting-rice-production/