…Develop action plans to mitigate challenges
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has raised concern over the devastating effects of floods and insecurity on their projects across the states.
IFAD Country Director, Ms Ekoue Dede, who stated this at the end of 5th mission program of the Value Chain Development Program (VCDP) lamented that the flood has not only compromised the income of the farmers but also washed away all the investments made by the farmers as well as the states to support boost food
According to her, six of the eight local governments they are working in in Anambra have been submerged by floods, adding that some of the bridges constructed by the project are also under water .
She said: “The project was already hampered by some of the floods that happened. This flood compromise not only the income of the farmers, but washed away the investment made by the farmers and the States in support of agriculture”
In terms of insecurity, Ms Dede noted that they are unable to implement the projects in some areas due to insecurity, saying the security challenge has greatly affected the project implementation in the areas. She said the high cost of farm inputs is also a major setback for the project.
She pointed out that during their visits to the states they observed farmers still having a lot of challenges accessing credit facilities to boost yields. She said though VCDP is working on improving access to credit but other partners especially financial institutions must also support the farmers
The Country Director, however, noted that the VCDP Programme is making significant headway in helping farmers improve their income through innovative approaches to agronomic practises, adding that they are also helping farmers learn how to produce better and produce more while protecting their environment.
The Acting National Programme Coordinator, IFAD-VCDP Dr Fatima Aliyu said IFAD listed facilities affected by the flood to include processing centres, convet, mini bridges, and a lot of other infrastructure that were built just a few months ago are under water right now.
She noted that it’s unfortunate that the flood is coming towards the harvest season, especially for rice, and the VCDP programme is focussed on rice and cassava, saying the major activity now is to see how to rehabilitate the farmers.
Aliyu stated that the number one priority for them is achieving food security and to mitigate the impact of the flood on their food security, they would increase the quantity of the dry season activities this year so that it will mitigate the effect of flooding and at least they will have some food, especially rice, that they will eat in their homes this year.
“Then we will opt our nutrition mainstreaming activities as well as assess the damage when the flood waters recede and then see what can be done in order to rehabilitate our compromised infrastructure in the states”
She said: “We are also accelerating our 2023 annual work plan and budget, we have already done the first draft butt because of this flood we are now going back to review it so that we will now add activities that will also help to mitigate the impact of the flood in 2023 so we are going to do that and make sure that our budget is approved on time so that we can by first January we will hit the ground and run it.
“And then we are going to promote climate start agriculture, we are already doing that but we are going to opt it, we are going to now introduce varieties of rice that are flood tolerant and better yielding, early maturing varieties for rice and cassava and then we are going to teach them other technology because is not just the varieties itself but the actual grain cultivating of the crops.
“So, we are going to opt our good agronomic practices for the farmers so that they will know what to do and how to do it. We also have the weather stations that we established in collaboration with NIMET and also partner with the National Agricultural Insurance cooperation (NAIC).
THEGUARDIAN
