THE federal government and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) are to assist poor farmers in Anambra State with agricultural inputs worth N20 million.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Forster Ihejiofor said the funding would be done through the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP).
Speaking during the flag off of the programme at Ogbaru local government area, the Commissioner explained that the inputs would be distributed to poor rural farmers across the participating local government areas of the state.
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According to him, the programme would help to boost agriculture, adding that after this year’s distribution, Anambra would migrate from artificial manure to organic agriculture. This, he added, would help to save the cost of agricultural produce and make room for larger production and commended the federal government and IFAD, for their continued support to rural farmers in the country.
The national programme coordinator of FG/IFAD-VCDP, Dr. Fatima Aliyu, who spoke through Mr Felix Oibiokpa explained that the federal government and IFAD were concerned about the farmers welfare and had put together the Rural Poor Stimulus Facilities (RPSF) to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic.
Also speaking, the state programme coordinator of VCDP, Mr. E. N Agwuncha said the programme took into consideration the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable farmers and came up with the idea to soften the harshness of the pandemic and urged the farmers to make judicious use of the inputs.