FADAMA increases income of beneficiaries by 30% - Coordinator

 Fadama 111 Additional Financing (AF) has increased the average real income of beneficiaries by 30 per cent, through Fadama project, its National Project Coordinator, Mr Tayo Adewumi, has said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Fadama 111 (AF), which started in 2015 is expected to end 2017.

Adewumi said this at a stakeholder’s workshop on Dissemination of Results of Fadama 111 AF End line Impact Assessment in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said that Fadama 111 project, which started in 2009 was aimed at increasing the income of rural farmers through accessibility to land, water resources.

Adewumi added that though FADAMA 111 had ended, additional financing was added following the success of the projects in the 36 states of the federation and FCT.

"The essence of this workshop is to present the results of the End line Impact Assessment of our Project.

‘’It is also to present lessons that could be drawn from the implementation of Fadama 111 project to all stakeholders,” he said.

The coordinator said that the outcome of the project required serious expert and experience for it to bring out quality results and for information guidance contained therein.

"This is why we have the opportunity to engage an International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as a consulting firm, following necessary World Bank recommendation," he said.

Adewumi added that the choice of IFPRI was not a mistake, but due to the good job it did before in spite numerous challenges.

According to him, the outcome of the workshop would be presented to Fadama office soon.

He urged participants to make comments and contributions that would enrich the final report.

Adewumi expressed the hope that future FADAMA projects would benefit more people, from the outcome of the workshop.

Mr Ephraim Nkonya, the Country Representative of IFPRI, said that farmers had recorded a lot of achievement through their income from Fadama support projects by investing resources in high value crops.

He added that the importance of the workshop was to encourage farmers not to look at agricultural production alone but also processes in order to boost productivity in the country.

The country representative said that the women farmers benefitted more than their male counterparts because they have shown to be more productive and capable of increasing the welfare of household.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Shehu Ahmed, said that the End line Impact Assessment would serve as a basic tool for further crafting of new initiatives.

He said that the initiative would also help government in its agricultural policies and programmes to meet the real and relevant needs of the populace.

Ahmed added that the workshop would provide another opportunity for the participants to share experience and bring forward lessons they learned to benefit future policies and programmes on agriculture.

He expressed the commitment of the Federal Government to empower people, especially at the local level, ‘’to help them set the path for economy growth for sustainable and climate smart.’’