The federal government, through its Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP-AF), on Monday, distributed inputs to 534 farmers to boost rice production in Kogi.

The programme/Initiative was being assisted by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The items distributed include: NPK and Urea fertilisers, selective and non selective herbicides, solar-powered water pumps and high quality rice seeds, among others.

The Kogi commissioner for agriculture, Timothy Ojomah, inaugurated the input distribution, tagged: “2023/2024 Dry Season Input Distribution To VCDP Rice Farmers”, at Agricultural Development Projects (ADP) office, Lokoja, on Monday.

The commissioner commended the federal government and the IFAD-VCDP for the initiative to empower farmers for the dry season farming in the state.

Mr Ojomah assured the people of the commitment of the state government under the leadership of Gov. Ahmed Ododo, to continue to provide maximum support to all farmers and agricultural programmes in the state.

“As a government, we will continue to create the conducive environment and give all the necessary support to ensure that our farmers are well empowered for maximum food production in the state,” Mr Ojoma said.

In her remarks, the national programme coordinator, IFAD-VCDP, Fatima Aliyu, said that the gesture was to boost rice production amidst the economic hardships in the country.

Mr Aliyu, who was represented by Nurudeen Tafida, the national programme monitoring and evaluation advisor, stressed that the gesture was to enhance the economic base of Kogi as well the country at large.

She appreciated the Kogi government for being a key stakeholder in giving the programme a strong support.

“Through such support the programme has achieved tremendous success in the state.

“The objective of dry season input distribution to farmers is to increase productivity and keep rice production going all through the year to ensure food security on a continuous basis.

“In doing this, we must continue to supply high quality seeds to farmers, so that we will continue to have enough food to eat in Kogi and even sell to other States of the country.

“We have to think out of the box to enhance value Chain food production through the continuous support to our farmers especially at the grassroots,” Mr Aliyu said.

On her part, the state programme coordinator, Dr Stella Adejoh, said that the IFAD-VCDP was giving support to farmers across the five benefitting local government areas of Kogi to increase rice yield.

According to her, 534 rice farmers would benefit in the 2023/2024 dry season input distribution in Lokoja, Ajaokuta, Olamaboro, Kabba-Bunu and Ibaji Local Government Areas.

She emphasised that the initiative was also meant to cushion the effect of the present economic hardships in the nation, and improve the livelihoods and living conditions of the farmers.

She noted that VCDP had empowered farmers through lots of training, financial inclusion services, gender and youth empowerment.

Plugging market leakages and improved production and processing activities along the agricultural value chain in the state.

She implored the farmers to effectively utilise the input in order to achieve the desired objectives of boosting rice production and ensuring food security in the state.

Ms Adejoh stressed that the Kogi VCDP had already taken the ‘Coordinates’ of farmlands of all the beneficiaries to ensure proper and effective monitoring.

Some of the beneficiaries, Victoria Enebi, Samuel Ayuba and Olushola Adetunji, from Ajaokuta, Lokoja and Kabba-Bunu respectively, thanked the VCDP for the initiative to boost their rice production.

“We thank the VCDP for always supporting us with various farm inputs and other empowerment programmes from time to time in the state,” Mr Ayuba said.

(NAN)