IFAD kick-starts $85 million Climate Change programme

In order to curtail increasing threats posited by adverse effects of climate change, the International Fund for Agricultural Development,(IFAD) has commenced Climate Change adaptation and agribusiness support  programme  aimed at supporting states on sustainable agricultural practices.

The programme focuses on states in the Sahel region of the country, which include: Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Katsina, and Zamfara states.

Atsuko Toda, IFAD Nigeria Country Programme manager told BusinessDay at the commencement of the programme that, “From IFAD’s perspective, it is a $70 million dollar loan, and $15 million dollar grant, in the total sum of $85 million to support the project”

While explaining further the components of the programme, she said, “In each of the selected states, we dare to ask that each of the state governors choose three priority  value chain of their choice”

We would be starting with the markets, off takers, processors and organising  farmers on production, capacity building around  better management practices and really changing the mindset of small holder farmers, and women and youth to begin to see agriculture as a business”

Also,IFAD would be  looking at supporting involved local governments on agricultural enterprise development to support the  youths in agriculture business. This is not for political purposes, as such would target those youths who are eager to make a difference as such they serve as incubators to train other youths  in enterprise development”

IFAD would  also be looking at the priority of communities, through community development associations, through foundations of interactive democracy, while finding out, what is it that communities want and financing those and  enhancing their productivity and linking to those value chains “Nigeria Country Programme Manager said.

She said,”IFAD would be  looking at a programme intervention in probably a 104 local governments, through the support of the federal ministry of agriculture and collaboration of the states. Really 63 percent of the local government and providing them with some sorts of supports.

Already the state governments have committed to the programme though paying their counterpart funding, in a show of committment to agriculture and small holder farmers.

Meanwhile, Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development at a meeting to mark the commencement of the programme in Abuja said, “The desert is coming,  we need to design ways of ensuring that doesn’t affect us adversely. We have problems with firewoods while people are cutting down trees to make fire.
We have to find ways of responding to the urgent call of nature in climate change. We need to grow more rice, wheat, among others”
.

Any help we could get now for food production, we must take. We can’t find help from commercial banks and yet we have to eat, and also develop small scale industries and also take advantage of processing and marketing. These are the things we need to do urgently “Ogbeh noted.

Harrison Edeh