The President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, has disclosed that the organisation has committed $88.5m into supporting Nigeria's Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).
He revealed this in a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, at the weekend.
Nwanze, who expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for his re-election, said he was delighted at the assurance of progress of ATA's value chain development to which IFAD has committed the fund. He noted that IFAD would design on-going projects in close collaboration with ATA.
He assured listeners that IFAD would remain focused on rural population in developing countries, particularly the rural agricultural population, for continued support. He observed that, although IFAD's investment in poverty reduction is being re-assessed, the organisation will, however, contribute - in the next three years - to moving 80 million people out of poverty, worldwide.
Responding, Adesina commended Nwanze for decentralising IFAD's operations to the field. He said IFAD, as a development finance organisation, is making significant impact on smallholder farmers. He disclosed that ATA will reach 20 million farmers by 2015.
He acknowledged that IFAD has supported Nigeria in community-based agricultural and rural development programme, working with seven states in the North, in which the financial support has been drawn down 100 per cent.
In the South, the minister added, IFAD has supported in community-based natural resource management programme of $50 million worth. The beneficiary states, he said, will be urged to pay their own counterpart funding.
According to Adesina, Nwanze was the first to be unanimously re-elected as president of IFAD, by acclamation.
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