The Kogi State government has announced that it signed two deals from World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) valued at $62 million and $10 million respectively, to boost over 500 kilometres of rural roads, and agriculture development to fight food security in the state.
This was disclosed by Mohammed Onogu, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Yahaya Bello, in a statement on Friday in Lokoja.
He said the IFAD programme is an Assisted Value Chain Development Programme to create “agricultural initiative aimed at reducing rural poverty, enhancing food security among the poor households and promoting economic growth on a sustainable basis.”
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“The programme is essentially on the production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava in targeted Local Government Areas in the state.
“The programme is made up of three basic components which are: Agricultural Market development, to support value addition, market linkages and support to market infrastructure and to build a very strong agribusiness and value chain orientation to farmers in rural communities,” Onogu added.
He added the World Bank loan would be used to develop agriculture logistic centres and rural connectivity infrastructure.
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“The World Bank loan for Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) will upgrade over 500 kilometres of rural roads, improve agro-logistics centres as well as enhance connectivity and access to local markets and agribusiness services in the state.
“The project is to be jointly funded by the World Bank, French Development Agency and the Government of Nigeria,” he added.
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What you should know
- Recall Nairametrics reported last month that World Bank Group President, David Malpass, announced plans by the bank to invest over $5 billion within the next five years to help restore degraded landscapes, improve agriculture productivity and general livelihood across 11 African countries.
- The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) stated that for the FG to maximize the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, it needs to direct its efforts into strengthening domestic value chains
