Benue farmers get aids for improved cassava production

Farmers in four local government areas of Benue State have benefited a total of N348 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP). The farmers are expected to use the fund provided by the foreign donor to boost rice and cassava production in the state. Country Programme Manager of […]

Farmers in four local government areas of Benue State have benefited a total of N348 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP).
The farmers are expected to use the fund provided by the foreign donor to boost rice and cassava production in the state.
Country Programme Manager of IFAD, Atsuko Toda, said at the weekend at the second FGN/IFAD Implementation Support Mission to the state’s VCDP in Aliade Cluster of Gwer LGA of the state that the intervention would cover three main components of market linkages, infrastructural development and small holders productivity.
Addressing the rice and cassava farmers as well as processors in the area, Toda disclosed that the state government had already paid its N87million counterpart fund to the programme to enable the beneficiaries draw up to four times that amount from the fund.
She said much emphasis would be placed on women and youths who, through cooperative societies, directly benefit from the fund so as to improve on their production, distribution and earnings.
Earlier, caretaker Chairman of  Gwer LGA, Mr. Godwin Uzuku, expressed support for the programme which he said would improve the fortunes of farmers in his domain, adding that the council will urgently treat the challenges raised by the farmers and processors in order to provide the enabling environment for the success of the programme.
Our correspondent reports that the four benefiting local government areas are Gwer, Guma, Logo and Okpokwu respectively.