57 Agric. Cooperatives Receive N400m Grants From APPEALS

Raphael Okhueleigbe 3 years ago 2 min read

57 Agric. Cooperatives Receives N400m Grants From APPEALS

57 Agric. Cooperatives Receive N400m Grants From APPEALS

The Enugu State Government via the World Bank-assisted Agro-processing, Productivity, Enhancement and Livelihoods Improvement (APPEALS) project has released N400 million to Agricultural Cooperatives in the state.

State APPEALS Project Coordinator, Mr Christian Odigbo in his address at the Implementation workshop organised for the beneficiaries recently, said the release of grants was to boost agricultural productivity through the adoption of technology.

APPEALS is a project of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture funded by the World Bank. It is a six-year project from 2016 to 2023 and currently operating in six states of Nigeria: Cross-River, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, and Lagos.

According to Odigbo, the state is also working towards the release of other farm inputs to boost production.

“This is in respect of the component of one of our projects which is support for technology adoption. Support to farmers who are in cooperatives.

“The project supports what they are doing with input up to the amount that was approved to them. This is not a loan; it is a grant so they are not expected to pay back.

“The payment goes to the service providers who will supply them all the items they requested for in their business plan. Some of the cooperatives would receive N10 million while some will receive N13 million based on their needs and capacity,” he said

On his part, the Communications Officer of APPEALS in Enugu State, Mr. Ambrose Igboke, revealed that the project was facilitated by the state government through the payment of counterpart funds to support farmers in different value chains.

He explained, “The project is courtesy of the World Bank, Enugu State Government and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. Enugu State is the only state in the South East that has APPEALS project.

“Enugu State paid N244 million as a counterpart fund, which is a prerequisite for the project to be operational in the state.”

Igboke noted that Enugu is the only state in the southeast where the APPEALS programme is running at the moment, stressing that the target is to improve interest in agriculture and increase yield by over 100 percent before the programme exits in 2023.

“Our objective is to enhance agricultural productivity of small and medium-scale farmers and improve value addition along priority value chains. The project also has dedicated sub-components to benefit women and children,” he said.

Beneficiaries at the event said they had already started receiving input from certified suppliers and praised the state government for embarking on the project.

Source: agronigeria.ng

57 Agric. Cooperatives Receive N400m Grants From APPEALS