World Bank ‘APPEALS’ project targets 60,000 persons in agric value chains

The World Bank’s Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Support (APPEALS) said it is targeting to empower about 60,000 persons on 11 agricultural value in six states.

It is also expected that 35 per cent of the beneficiaries of the project will be women and youths who will be empowered along Rice, Cocoa, Poultry, Cashew, Maize, Ginger, Diary, Wheat, Tomato, Cassava and Aquaculture value chains.

Speaking at the Project Facilitators Training in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the National Project Coordinator (NPC), Mr Mohammed Jobdi said APPEALS is a 6-year project designed in line with the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) of the Federal Government.

He said project development objective is to enhance the agricultural productivity of small and medium-scale farmers and improve value addition along the priority value chain in the participating states.

“APPEALS project is a 6-year project designed in line with the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) of the Federal Government.

“It intends to build on the legacy of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and plans to support policy trusts on food security, local production, job creation and economic diversification.

“The project is targeting 60,000 individuals as direct beneficiaries ie. 10,000 beneficiaries per state, and 300,000 farm household members as indirect beneficiaries.

“It is anticipated that 35 per cent of direct beneficiaries (or 21,000 individuals) will be women and youth. The Project has eleven commodity value chains which include Rice, Cocoa, Poultry, Cashew, Maize, Ginger, Diary, Wheat, Tomato, Cassava and Aquaculture.

“These priority value chains were carefully selected due to their potential in contributing to the government stated priority goals of (i) Food Security and local Production, (ii) Potential for exports, and (iii) contribution to the improvement of livelihoods and speedy income generation including jobs creation along the value chains”, he said.

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He said presently, the project is being implemented in these six states with their respective value chains.

He listed the participating states and value chains to include Cross River (Rice, Cocoa, Poultry), Enugu (Rice, Cashew, Poultry), Kaduna (Maize, Ginger, Dairy) Kano (Rice, Wheat, Tomato), Kogi (Cassava, Cashew, Rice), Lagos (Rice, Aquaculture, Poultry).

“The project was approved by the World Bank on March 23, 2017, and became disbursement effective on May 24, 2018. It is expected to close by September 2023”, he said.

Furthermore, he said “the project has improved on its performance, across all participating states. A total of 277 Value Chain Investment Plans (VCIPs) have been prepared, reviewed and approved for implementation by the beneficiaries.

“The project has also documented a total of fifty-five business alliances (off-takers/ out-growers) across nine value chains. In addition, a total of 64 different technologies have been demonstrated to farmers across the participating states.

“In keeping to and increasing this present pace, it has become imperative to conduct this very important training workshop for the project facilitators.

“As you are aware, the facilitators are the front line officers when it comes to interfacing directly with the project beneficiaries, their roles and relevance to the realization of the project development objectives cannot be overemphasized”, he added.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE