| ID: | 83006 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Nigeria |
| Title: | Nigeria - Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) – November 2023 |
| Description: |
Lovely Nnenna Egim, 47 years old, displays parboiled rice ready for sale. She processes paddy at Angel Rice Mill that she co-manages with her husband in the Aninri local government area in south-eastern Nigeria’s Enugu State. Lovely buys rice paddy from local farmers, including the VCDP-supported women’s cooperatives located in their Aninri community, and processes it using the steam parboiling technology provided by the project. Through IFAD's support via the VCDP, her rice processing enterprise witnessed a transformative shift. Though she initially grappled with some uncertainties about the VCDP-supported intervention, she has since discovered a newfound passion for seeing agriculture as a viable business. “IFAD came to us as good news, and IFAD has been a source of joy for all of us. IFAD came to Nigeria at the right time. With the help IFAD and VCDP is giving to the country at large, and to me in particular, we have gone from asking ourselves ‘how can we do it?’ to having a true passion for farming as a business. VCDP is giving us all that we need to succeed as farmers.” VCDP has provided women’s rice growers cooperatives with inputs and support, including Faro44 certified rice seeds, agro-chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides) and training. Thanks to the VCDP intervention, rice yields have soared from 2.1 to over 5.2 tons per hectare. VCDP's support extended cultivation into the dry season through water pumps, further boosting yearly production and income. Previously focused on subsistence farming, the women have learned from VCDP that farming is a business, revolutionizing their approach. As the Vice-President of the VCDP-backed Commodity Alliance Forum in Enugu State, Lovely understands the importance of ensuring that farmers are paid a fair market price for their harvest. In fact, she has signed an MOU with VCDP – a mutually beneficial relationship between buyer (processor) and seller (farmer) whereby the buyer offers an agreed market price to the farmer in exchange for quality paddy. It is a win-win arrangement. 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: | 15.38 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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