The Kwara FADAMA Coordination Office, Ilorin, has distributed agricultural input at fifty per cent subsidized rate to Fadama farmers in the state.

The state commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Bode Olayemi, while flagging off the programme in Ilorin, restated the state government's commitment towards agricultural development in the state.

He said that the state government under the leadership of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has placed high premium on the development of agriculture in the state.

According to him, the state government was mindful of the fact that if farmers were to maximize their benefits under the Fadama project adequate priority must be placed on input support for farm production.

"I am therefore glad to note that the project had taken delivery of production inputs such as fertilizer and spraying pumps for distribution to farmers at subsidized prices", he stated.

According to him, the Fadama Apex Cooperative Group have federated along commodity lines of rice and fisheries, with the worthwhile intention of improving the value chain process of these produce which was to be pursued through the federation development plans.

He, however, advised that the project works hard to link the viable cooperative groups under the Fadama project to micro finance institution and necessary avenues to market their product.

According to him the objective of Fadama Project is to sustainably increase the incomes of the users of land and water resources. By increasing beneficiaries' incomes, the Project will help reduce rural poverty, ensure food security and contribute to the achievement of a key Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

"This objective is, no doubt, encapsulated in the broad policy framework of the government, which is to develop and expand agricultural potentials of the state, to ensure food security, provide raw materials for industries and produce for both domestic consumption and export", he stated.

The commissioner said that all these will be achieved by promoting commercial agriculture through Public-Private Partnership (PPP), agricultural aggressive mechanization, generation of employment and empowerment of citizens through enhanced agro-allied industries and capacity building and, of course, increase the production of crops, livestock and fish through the provision of inputs, irrigation and extension services.

He noted that all these broad objectives of Fadama II Project are in line with the policy thrust of government which are:

• To increase the production of crops, fish and livestock of smallholder farmers through the provision of agro-inputs, infrastructures, and advisory services.
• To transform rural communities through agriculture and thereby reduce poverty.
• To generate employment and empower rural-based famers through enhancement of agro-allied industries as well as capacity building.

He said that the Fadama Project in the state has gone far in achieving this objective, adding that "you are the beneficiaries and living witnesses of the activities".

The state Project Coordinator, Mallam Usman Akanbi, highlighted some other benefits that have accrued to the beneficiaries of the African Development Bank assisted Fadama development project.

"Asides the agro inputs distributed to Fadama users at highly subsidized rate of fifty per cent, other benefits are in the areas of small scale community infrastructure which include; road opening of about 30 kilometers, road rehabilitation (30km), 30 Nos ring culvert (600mm),3 veterinary clinics, 49 Nos borehole with hand pump, 112 Nos open deep well with hand pump, 16 Nos collection/cooling sheds and 20Nos market infrastructures.

"In the area of Advisory Services which provides appropriate technological back-up to the production support, the Fadama Users had also benefitted from trainings in pest control, soil conservation, enterprise development, poultry/livestock management, fisheries production among others. As for Capacity Building, they have benefitted from different categories of trainings spanning record keeping, participatory monitoring and evaluation, environmental management, group dynamics etc", he explained.

Culled from The Herald Newspaper