The International Fund for Agricultural Development-Value Chain Development Programme (IFAD-VCDP) has distributed agricultural production and processing equipment, worth over N250 million, to 553 smallholder farmers in Enugu State.
The intervention, designed to reduce post-harvest losses and improve productivity and value addition, took place at the Okpara Square, Enugu, on Thursday.
The beneficiaries were drawn from five participating Local Government Areas of Aninri, Enugu East, Isi-Uzo, Nkanu East and Udenu.
Enugu State Programme Coordinator of IFAD-VCDP, Dr Edward Isiwu, said the intervention was designed to empower farmers, processors and marketers, particularly women and youths.
Isiwu said the programme also aimed at strengthening rural communities and contributing to food security in the state and county at large.
According to him, smallholder farmers remain the backbone of agricultural production but face challenges, such as drudgery, high post-harvest losses and limited opportunities for value addition.
He listed some of the equipment to include 87 tricycles, power tillers, rice grinding machines, rice hullers and polishers, bag sealers, cassava and rice processing equipment.
Others included energy-efficient cooking stoves, knapsack sprayers, nutrient-dense food processing equipment, petrol-powered water pumps, and solar-powered irrigation pumps.
The rest were threshers, smart weather readers, fufu pounding machines, de-stoning machines, digital weighing scales and Point-of-Sale machines for financial inclusion.
Isiwu said the equipment was procured under the IFAD-VCDP cost-sharing arrangement, with beneficiaries contributing 30 per cent, while IFAD contributed 70 per cent.
He put the value of the equipment at over N250 million.
He urged beneficiaries to use the equipment responsibly, adding that the items should serve cooperatives and communities and should not be sold.
Isiwu commended Gov. Peter Mbah for his support towards the programme and payment of the state’s counterpart funds.
He said the State Government had earlier supported the distribution of agro-inputs, including fertilisers, agrochemicals, rice seedlings and cassava cuttings to farmers.
He described the present distribution as timely, coming ahead of farmers’ harvest season, when they needed equipment for processing and marketing their produce.
The governor, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said the intervention was consistent with the administration’s agricultural transformation agenda.
He said the focus should not end at production, as value could be created through processing, packaging, storage, transportation and access to markets.
Mbah said the equipment would help reduce the burden on farmers and improve the profitability of agricultural activities.
He further said the State Government wanted farmers to become entrepreneurs, employers, processors, aggregators and contributors to the wider economy.
He commended the Federal Government, IFAD, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the state Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation and the State Programme Management Unit for their collaboration.
Also speaking, the National Programme Coordinator, IFAD-VCDP, Dr Fatima Aliyu, urged beneficiaries to leverage the support to expand their businesses and improve their livelihoods.
Aliyu, represented by IFAD-VCDP Rural Institute Gender and Youth Development Specialist, Mr Musa Dalang, advised the beneficiaries against selling the equipment.
He said that the programme was intended to help them build sustainable agricultural businesses.
A rice farmer from Aninri, Mr Okorie Arinze, expressed joy over the intervention, saying the tricycle would help him transport his farm produce to the market and meet other business needs.
Arinze said he paid N900,000 as his 30 per cent counterpart contribution to the N3 million price of the tricycle.
He further said that the tricycle would help him improve his farming business and reduce some of the difficulties associated with transporting his produce.