By John Wada, Lafia.
Farmers in Nasarawa State are hopeful of bountiful harvest as the state government is ready to institutionalize the Federal Government/International Funds for Agriculture Development -Value Chain Development Programme (FG/IFAD-VCDP), beyond 2026 in the state.
Speaking at a one-day VCDP stakeholders engagement event held in Lafia, the state capital recently, they stated how VCDP training has helped them record bountiful harvests in Nasarawa State.
Speaking at the programme, the Nasarawa state Commissioner for Agriculture, Honourable Tanko Tunga, said the ministry expressed optimism with the activities of VCDP, adding that the state government would ensure the sustainability of the VCDP programme beyond 2026.
Tunga explained that Nasarawa state would not leave any stone unturned to continue to support the programme because of its physical projects in the state.
According to Tunga, “We will do everything possible within our reach to see that sustainability goes beyond 2026. VCDP will not stop by 2026. It may faint for some minutes and will get back to life to continue to live stronger and stronger.”
”The governor of Nasarawa State, Eng. A.A. Sule, is open and out to support programme like this for the transformation of the agricultural sector in this state,” he added.
In a welcome remark, the state coordinator of Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), Dr. Eunice Adgidzi, explained that the stakeholders engagement meeting was to exchange ideas with policy makers and stakeholders in the agriculture sector on how they can institutionalise VCDP programme in Nasarawa state.
She said that few weeks ago, there was similar engagement like this where the ministry of agriculture in conjunction with NASIDA, called on stakeholders to drive policy on agriculture in the state.
According to Dr. Adgidzi, “I know that this meeting is the right step in the right direction. Why are we calling on state government to drive policies that will institutionalised agriculture in Nasarawa State? We have realized that we have so much potentials in Nasarawa State.
”If governor is already taking the bull by the horn to be a farmer, you know, farming is our way to building wealth,” she said.
The VCDP state coordinator added that all stakeholders at the meeting know the areas they can touch on to come up with policies that the state can rely on to do better in agriculture in the state.
Also speaking, Dr. Peter Akwe, the lawmaker representing Obi I at the state House of Assembly who is also the chairman, house committee on agriculture, said that based on the engagement, he discovered VCDP has achieved a lot in the state.
Dr. Akwe called on the VCDP to extend their programme to other sectors of agriculture for bountiful outputs in the state.
The lawmaker noted that with the launch of NASACO rice in the state, Nasarawa State can feed its citizens and others across the country.
While presenting the score card of the FGN/IFAD-VCDP Knowledge Management team, the VCDP Communication Officer, Mr. Akwe Samson Jonathan informed the stakeholders that VCDP had trained 62 beneficiaries on the production of organic manure for rice and cassava farmers. He added that 190 farmers benefited from VCDP’s Automatic Weather Station (AWS) in Doma LGA while 393 farmers benefited from the payment of premium for rice and cassava farmers across 5 LGAs of the state, among other benefits.
