From Our Correspondent
The Nigerian Government and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), on Thursday in Calabar, launched the Agribusiness Innovative Forum (LAbIF) under the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises in Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) Project.
Dr Abiodun Sanni, National Project Coordinator of LIFE-ND in Calabar, described the forum as a multi-stakeholder platform comprising the project beneficiaries and key players in agri-entrepreneurship.
Sanni said LAbIF would address multi-dimensional issues of profitability, access to factors of production and price control among others.
According to him, LAbIF aligns with the policies of the Federal Government on the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’.
The agenda encapsulates the food system transformation pathways adopted by Nigeria.
He said it is a direct implementation response of the Federal Government on innovative financing in the agriculture sector.
LAbIF is an ecology of agro-commodity value chain actors due to the increased involvement of the private sector players in agriculture.
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“They are expected to collectively help develop specific value chains they find themselves for the overall improvement in the agricultural and rural development sector,” he said.
According to him, LIFE-ND has created and supported 22,150 enterprises out of the targeted 25,500 across the participating states.
The states are Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Ondo.
Sanni said the project had injected more than $30 million into the rural economy of the states. This has boosted agricultural productivity and value addition across seven commodities.
These included chains of cassava, cocoa, oil palm, rice livestock and others.
He identified poverty alleviation and empowerment of the youths and women as the core of the project activities.
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