| ID: | 82916 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Nigeria |
| Title: | Nigeria - Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) – November 2023 |
| Description: |
Carolyn Felix produces a number of value-added products from the orange flesh sweet potatoes (OFSP) she grows, including Vitamin A-enriched porridge that she sells at her shop located in the south of Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. Carolyn has always been a farmer but turned to growing the OFSP after joining the VCDP, when she learned about its nutritional value and many health benefits. She has never looked back. Today, the OFSP provides Carolyn with her main source of income. VCDP provided Carolyn with training on best practices for cultivating OFSP, and to understand its nutritional benefits. The variety, which is rich in vitamins such as calcium, phosphorus and iron, is good for pregnant women, diabetics and for combating vitamin A deficiency in children. It can be eaten in almost every form and manner with the peels serving as animal feed. “When I saw how VCDP spreads knowledge, I decided that’s what I wanted to do, too. I started going around to schools and churches to share the knowledge I have gained from the project. Honestly, it has made me so happy – especially when I see how young people who might have been frustrated and may be out on the streets are now growing and selling sweet potatoes. We now have 146 people in our community growing OFSP.” Carolyn learned from VCDP how to grow OFSP and to process value-added products that she sells locally, as well as to wholesalers. She has also trained her children how to process OFSP. In addition to bread made with sweet potato flour that is in high demand, Carolyn and members of her family produce snacks, drinks and even garri made from the potato, all of which she sells in her shop. Carolyn boasts that with the money they are now earning, life is far less burdensome. “VCDP has really changed our lives. It has motivated us, increased our knowledge, and put food on our tables.” Although Carolyn expresses her joy, she has also experienced great sorrow. In 2022, inter-tribal animosities ignited in her village; her workshop, with all of her production equipment in it, was just one of the buildings that burned to the ground. “But, because I know what I can get from the OFSP, I refuse to just close my eyes and sleep. I believe I will rise again.” The Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), which started its activities in 2014, works in close coordination with local government across nine states—Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, and Taraba—on developing cassava and rice value chains for smallholder farmers, rolling out development initiatives that aim to reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen food security and accelerate economic growth. Building strong public-private-producer partnerships (4Ps) has provided a solid pathway for reaching sustainable transformation in rural communities where agriculture is a mainstay of economic activity. VCDP helps households adopt sustainable and climate resilient practices, as well as dietary diversity that leads to better nutrition and health benefits. The project has benefited almost 100,000 rural people, in particular women and youth. The number of households living in poverty has decreased by almost 50 per cent, while agricultural income of more than 60 per cent of VCDP-supported beneficiaries has increased by 25 per cent. |
| Size: | 22.59 MB; 6480 x 4320 pixels; 549 x 366 mm (print at 300 DPI); 1714 x 1143 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Show more details: | Andrew Esiebo |
| Copyright: | ©IFAD/Andrew Esiebo |
| Categories: | New from West and Central Africa |
| URL: | www.ifad.org |
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