Bayelsa inaugurates committee to enhance rural agricultural productivity

To ensure improved rural agricultural productivity and enhance the sustainability of the rural road networks, the Bayelsa State Government has inaugurated a state project monitoring committee of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) with a charge to work assiduously to ensure the success of the programme.

The state Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr David Alagoa, gave the charge in Yenagoa at the inauguration of a 13-man committee headed by the acting permanent secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Ebasi Okoya.

According to Alagoa, efforts by the ministry in accessing most rural communities in the execution of agricultural projects in the state have not been successful but expressed optimism that with the intervention from RAAMP communities would be accessed.

He noted that the members of the committee who were chosen from various government ministries and agencies, the private sector, academia and NGOs are men of experience and capacity while urging them not to fail in carrying out their assigned tasks.

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• Bayelsa inaugurates committee to enhance rural agricultural productivity
• Bayelsa inaugurates committee to enhance rural agricultural productivity

The commissioner appreciated the Federal Government and the World Bank for choosing Bayelsa as one of the beneficiaries of the programme, adding that the state will ensure that it comes out top in terms of project implementation.

The national coordinator of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), Engr. Aminu Mohammed said that Bayelsa State has made history as the only state where the state governor personally inaugurated the state project implementation unit of RAAMP, adding that this shows the importance the state attached to the programme.

The lead consultant of Capital Communications Limited, Mohammed Badamasuiy, in an overview stated that RAAMP which is a donor-funded project is an offshoot of the Rural Agricultural and Mobility Project introduced in 2010.

Badamasuiy noted the need for the periodic review of the impact of RAAMP which focuses on access roads construction, it became imperative to expand the scope to not only access road construction but to cover agricultural marketing and other facilities targeted towards the socio-economic benefit of the rural people gave rise to the new RAAMP.

He commended the state governor, Douye Diri, for the support given to the State Project Implementation Unit, SPIU and other stakeholders as well as giving the marching order to ensure that the state meets the necessary criteria to qualify as a beneficiary.

Earlier the state Coordinator of RAAMP, Dr Paul Ebienfa, expressed gratitude to the Governor of Bayelsa State for the opportunity to serve as the state Coordinator of RAAMP, adding that the governor demonstrated his unflinching support by providing befitting office space for RAAMP and for approving the payment of counterpart funding.

Ebienfa noted that the inauguration of the Same Project Monitoring Committee (SPMC) is a critical step in achieving the task that is ahead and reposed confidence in the calibre of persons selected to serve on the committee.

He pledged his total commitment to collaborate professionally and productively with the committee for the overall benefit of the state.