The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) has urged its Commodity Alliance Forum (CAF) award recipients from Ebonyi, to sustain their productivity tempo.
Mr Sunday Ituma, the State Programme Coordinator (SPC) gave the advice on Thursday in Abakaliki while addressing the CAF Award recipients from the state, urging them to improve on their production capacities.
Ituma said the recipients received the Best Rice Farmer, Best Cassava Farmer and Best Youth Farmer awards in Ebonyi.
He said one of its organisations won the Best Farmer Organisation (FO) award during an award ceremony held in Abuja.
“I want to remind the award recipients of the popular maxim which says that it is one thing to reach the top and another to maintain it.
“IFAD—VCDP will continue to support you to attain greater productivity. We enjoin you to train and motivate other youths to replicate and possibly surpass your achievements,” he said.
The SPC coordindtor noted that the production capacities of the award recipients and other benefiting farmers increased optimally over the years which were part of the organisation’s success story in the state.
“Most of them started cultivation with one hectare but presently cultivate more than four hectares, while their production capacity increased from 1 to 1.5 metric tones per hectare to more than 3.5 hectares.
“The best youth farmer for instance, commenced cassava production with one hectare but is presently cultivating three hectares through IFAD-VCDP assistance.
“She earned more than N2 million in 2017 from the sales of cassava cuttings and such success stories have been attested to by benefiting youths and other farmers across the participating local government areas (LGAs) of the state.
“CAF is a transaction forum set up by IFAD—VCDP in its participating states for participants, especially major stakeholders in the value-chain production process of rice and cassava.
“These stakeholders include producers, processors, marketers, off-takers, financial institutions, insurance firms, and processors from the Abakaliki rice mill.
“They are expected to meet quarterly to address challenges confronting the benefiting farmers such as inputs, off-farm activities and harvest challenges among others,” Ituma said.
Mr Dickson Agwu, winner of the Best Rice Farmer award in the state, expressed happiness over the impact of IFAD—VCDP in his farming endeavours which had benefited him tremendously.
“I have received several capacity-building training with the assistance of the organisation and have applied the imparted knowledge on my farmlands.
“In 2015, I harvested 1.8 metric tones of rice from one hectare, harvested 4.2 metric tones from two hectares in 2016 and 5.7 metric tones from three hectares in 2017,” he said.
Mrs Cynthia Edeze, the Best Youth Farmer award recipient, also thanked the IFAD–VCDP for the award, noting that she used to apply local cassava varieties before she identified with IFAD—VCDP.
“Presently, I plant improved cassava varieties and have increased my production capacity from an initial one hectare to three hectares.
“I am making arrangements presently to procure a cassava processing equipment and have employed two permanent staff among other ‘contract-staff’ to work for me,” she said.
The major highlight of the event was an award of excellence given to Gov. David Umahi for his unflinching support to IFAD-VCDP in its operations in the state.
