Sasakawa Africa Association has distributed support items to smallholder farmers groups and Niger State Agricultural and Development Program (ADP) to increase productivity in Niger.
The Country Director, Sasakawa Africa Association Nigeria, Dr Godwin Atser, said this at the distribution of the items in Minna.
Atser, represented by Deputy Country Director, Dr Abdulhamid Gambo, said the distribution was part of the organisation’s commitment to improve farmers’ resilience and upscaling productivity.
“To improve incomes and livelihood in rice, maize, soybean, cowpea, and vegetable value chains program in Niger, which is funded by AGRA.
“We are working with 300,000 smallholder farmers that are into five commodity value chains of rice, maize, cowpea, soyabeans and onions chains,” he said.
He reiterated the organisation’s commitment to supporting the ADP and reiterated its roles in leading a consortium of partners in the implementation of the project.
The country director, however, assured continued support to the ADP to strengthen its capacity for efficient service delivery.
He said the items aimed to benefit individuals, groups, and extension service delivery systems through zonal offices of Niger State Agricultural and Mechanisation Development Authority (NAMDA) in Bida, Minna (Chanchaga) and Kontagora LGAs of the State.
The items distributed include 50 units of plastic tables and chairs, 30 units to six women groups, 10 units to NAMDA, and 10 units to Niger State Ministry for Agriculture.
Others were three units of wooden office desks, three units of whiteboard and duster,
three units of 32-inch TV sets, three units of desktop computers, and three units of 500 GB external hard drives.
Also, there were 50(fifty) units of wooden pallets, 25 each to aggregation centres in Wushishi and Kontagora, five units of humidity testers (moisture meters).
Similarly, weighing scales for the Wushishi, Kontagora, Minna, Kuta, and Bida and 15 units of 3,000 litres GP tanks were distributed to 15 (fifteen) rice processing groups in the state.
In his remarks, Permanent Secretary, Niger Ministry for Agriculture, Dr. Mathew Ahmed commended Sasakawa Africa Association for being a valuable partner in agricultural development.
He said the support of Sasakawa Africa Association through the AGRA Niger consortium project had been invaluable in complementing the efforts of the Niger State government.
Malama Fatima Abdullahi, from Galadima Ibrahim Tako Women Corporative, appreciated Sasakawa Africa association for, saying the item would boost their productivity.
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