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IFAD, FG, finalize design of 6 years Agric plan

The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has concluded its stakeholder’s consultation on the Nigeria-IFAD Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP 2024-2029).

IFAD will complete the COSOP 2016 -2023 by December, where it has supported the formulation of policies driving the country’s agricultural sector, such as Nigeria Food System Transformation Pathways, National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy and National Extension Policy.

COSOP is a framework for making strategic choices about IFAD operations in a country, identifying opportunities for IFAD financing and facilitating management for results.

The New COSOP is proposed to run from 2024-2029 and is expected to be presented in December 2023 to IFAD Executive Board for approval.

The Country Director of IFAD Mrs Dede Ekoue while speaking at the IFAD COSOP 2024-2029 Stakeholders Workshop, said IFAD and the Federal Government of Nigeria are in corporation to strengthen the smallholder farmers to produce food in a sustainable manner.

She said through this partnership, many rice and cassava producers have improved their yield, and they are able to produce more with lesser inputs. According to her, it translates to more food, less cost, income for farmers and job opportunities for the youth.

“All these elements put together are conducive for the economic growth of the country, and this is what we want to bring to scale in the new corporation strategy that we are developing under the leadership of the government, and in close coordination with the smallholder farmers.

“We had consultations in seven states, during this consultation, farmers, private sectors, government agencies and development partners talked to us on what are the priorities that should be taken into account in the Corporation programme, and also specific recommendations for IFAD Nigeria.

“We are here for the wrap of the consultation, this is an opportunity for us to discuss how to prioritize, there are many recommendations that we will be picking together the areas we know that IFAD and its partners have comparative advantage and strength”, she added.

The consultative process was initiated by holding an initial national stakeholder workshop on 5 April 2023. The workshop was launched by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in cooperation with Federal Ministry of Finance National Planning and Budget in collaboration with IFAD Nigeria Country Office

The process was implemented with the support of the COSOP taskforce of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, States ‘s government representatives, National and State staff of two Nigeria- IFAD Joint projects (Value Chain Development Programme, Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Niger Delta (LIFE ND) the Country Program Advisory Team, IFAD Consultants, IFAD Nigeria team.

Consultations took place from 5th to 28th April, 2023 across the six geo-political zones covering 25 states of Nigeria and helped harness the views and perspectives of key stakeholders including representatives of states and federal government, government departments, development partners, beneficiary target groups, farmers organizations, civil society organizations, the private sector and development partners.

About 700 stakeholders took part in the consultative process with over 561 participants in regional workshops and at least 137 at the national level through different processes – national workshop, gender dialogue, interviews, and questionnaires.

The consultations helped gather the perspectives on stakeholders on the opportunities and the challenges of the agri-food sector with a focus on small holder’s farmers and feedback on the best practices and innovations included those generated through the Nigeria IFAD joint projects.

Mrs Ekoue said based on this consultation, IFAD is laying the foundation for the next six years of partnership with Nigeria starting from 2024.

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe said the Ministry participated actively and concerns were raised for inclusion into the COSOP 2024-2029 period to assist smallholder farmers feeding the teaming population as it is a known fact that 70 percent of the farmers in the country are rural people with low-income and subsistence.

The Permanent Secretary, who was represented by a Director in the Ministry, said the FG has integrated some actions in the new COSOP formation.

He said the actions include “promotion of affordable and simple tools under mechanization for the smallholder farmers for increased production and intervention in addition to interventions of waste to wealth with business potential.

“Ensure greater gender representation to leverage their experiences into the new COSOP Broaden the value chains to include fish for nutrition enhancement and income generation in the farming households.

“Consider the Integration of livestock value chain on sustainable pasture production and planting of fodder crops to increase livestock feed and reduce environmental degradation, integration of specific nutrition sensitive interventions into the new COSOP.

Achii Patricia, a beneficiary farmer from Benue State said she has been working with IFAD for five years, and she and other rural farmers have benefited from IFAD supported programmes.

“We came up with a few recommendations; we pray that they look into it. That will enable much growth and assistance to the smallholder farmer.

“Some of the recommendations are capacity building training on use of ICT gadgets, we also came up with making provision for the climate gadget that will help us forecast the weather, and soil testing kits, we also recommend that they should carry along People Living With Disabilities, especially youth and women in the rural areas”, she added.

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