The International Fund for Agricultural Development Value Chain Development Programme (IFAD-VCDP) has distributed farming implements to boost dry season farming in Niger.
Flagging off the distribution of phase one of the equipment at the Minna Farm Centre, the National Programme Coordinator, Dr. Fatima K. Aliyu, said the move aim to reduce the negative impact of flooding on food and nutrition security in the state and Nigeria.
Aside from out dry season farming implements, the agency also distributed rice and cassava processing machines and grinding machines. The implements distributed included 80 knapsack sprayers, 20 power tillers, 8 Rice De-stoner, 26 threshers, 20 water pumps and accessories, 3 solar pumps for irrigation, 3 rice milling machines, 10 grinding machines, 2 cassava peeling machine and 4 graters.
Empowerment
Others were 4 Jack Presser, 4 Communal Fryer, 3 Rice flour machines motor power, 4 sealing machines, 3 rice polisher, 16 standard weighing measure, among others. About 99 farmers in eight LGAs of Niger State received the tools, most being women and 10 people with disabilities.
Dr. Fatima K. Aliyu, said the Value Chain Development Programme of the IFAD had supported over 32, 000 farmers in rice and cassava value chain in the areas of production, processing and marketing in Niger State.
“Farming is a business and that is what we want our farmers to understand. We want our women and youth to become gainfully employed through agriculture. I am pleased to inform you that IFAD has approved a $5m grant to the government of Nigeria to establish climate adaptation infrastructure and build capacities of our farmers because we don’t want our farmers to be devastated with floods again. We want to minimize the impact of flooding and other severe weather activities on our farmers. So, we are going to use this money to ensure that we minimize the adverse effect of climate conditions,” she said.
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