By Roland Ike
The 11th International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) Pre- Mission team, has hailed Ebonyi state government for releasing its counterpart fund of N200million for the implementation of the programme.
Team Leader of the pre-mission team, Mr Babatunde Adebayo made the commendation in Abakaliki, noting that the timely release would assist the programme’s intervention to farmers in the present farming season.
Adebayo who is a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Finance thanked the governor for the fund’s release, noting that such was not obtained in some of the participating states in the country.
“We have a committee that will go to the concerned states and appeal to them to identify into the programme’s ideals on the counterpart funds.”
He said they were in Ebonyi to ascertain how the office was preparing for the 11th support mission especially areas to be improved upon.
“We intend to work together in filling all gaps, put everything in place as was done during the 10th mission.
“The Ebonyi office has done well in giving us all necessary presentations we need and we have harmonised all necessary responses.
“We inspected projects of the programme across the state and were impressed with what we saw.”
The team leader however frowned at the late approval and release of the state office’s budget and promised to communicate such the National Programme Coordinator of IFAD-VCDP.
“Such late approval is not peculiar to Ebonyi but the other participating states across the country.
“It is a misnomer for budgets to be approved in June when farmers would be anxiously waiting and in dire needs of farm inputs.
“You cannot make approvals in June for a farming season that runs from January to December.”
Musa Dalang, IFAD–VCDP Rural Institution Gender and Youth Development Specialist, said the team was not on a witch-hunting exercise but to support and strengthen the capacity of the Ebonyi office for the mission.
“We want to see what is on ground so that when writing the mission report, it will be easy for everyone.
“We want to avoid data inconsistency and I am impressed with the spirit of oneness on display.”
State Programme Coordinator (SPC) of IFAD-VCDP, Sunday Ituma, thanked the team for the visit, noting that it would assist the office prepare adequately for the mission.
“We led the team round our projects and have duly noted the advices given to us.
“We thank Gov. Francis Nwifuru for his able assistance to the programme which has enabled us impact positively on the lives of participating farmers in the state.”
