Lagos govt hails World Bank’s FADAMA project

The Lagos State government has praised the World Bank’s FADAMA III Additional Financing Project for aiding the state in its efforts towards ensuring food security.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Gbolahan Lawal, gave the commendation during a meeting with the Implementation Completion Team (ICR) Mission Team of FADAMA in Lagos.

Lawal lauded the initiative for its impact in the state, adding that the FADAMA model is worth emulating by various levels of governments as the policy is efficient and productive in improving Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

The FADAMA team comprised of representatives from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Project Coordinating Unit (PCU), Federal Ministry of Finance and consultants.

Lawal further noted that the project has thrived for almost three decades through the various regimes, including military and democratic governments and has made an increase in crop production possible.

“We in Lagos state have already keyed into the Additional Financing Project with our investment in the upgrade of the 2.5 tonnes rice mill at Imota to a 32 tonnes per hour integrated facility, which is set to create over 250,000 jobs on completion,” he added.

He further revealed that FADAMA will provide grants transfer for livelihood support, direct and indirect employment, rapid increment in the national food basket and many others.

In his address, FADAMA’s Team Leader, Dr Peter Kukwi, said that the Federal Government Borrower’s Implementation Completion Review (ICR) was aimed at reviewing success stories under the project as well as make recommendations for future projects.

The World Bank’s Fadama III project, a follow-up to the Fadama II project, which impacted the lives of rural farmers, raising their incomes by 63 per cent, is showing early results in 35 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).