IFAD-VCDP team lauds Anambra’s initiative on e-agriculture

The Federal Government/International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) team, on tour of Anambra State for the 5th Supervision Mission on Thursday, commended the state government’s initiative on e-agriculture.

Dr. Oyesola Oyebanji, the team leader, made the commendation when they paid a courtesy visit to Mr. Afam Mbanefo, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mechanisation, Processing and Export.

The team, drawn from IFAD-VCDP, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as Federal ministry of Finance is in the state on a two-day inspection tour.

Oyebanji said the e-agriculture, which was presented to the team during the visit, was an indication that the state had good data upkeep of farmers.

It is a show of excellence that should be developed as templates for others states to emulate,” the team leader said.

Oyebanji said they were in the state to assess the progress of the programme implementation and identify the policies that were working well.

Those that did not work well will be captured and improved on for better results.
This year is critical because by November, half the programme’s life would have been completed but before then, we need to conduct mid-term review to ascertain the level of progress and challenges,” Oyebanji explained.

On his part, the state Programme Coordinator of VCDP, Mr. Nnamdi Agwuncha, said the supervision mission would strengthen the programme in the state and help evaluate its performance and challenges.

In a remark, Mbanefo described IFAD-VCDP as “a well packaged programme,” saying plans were on to establish agricultural seed multiplication centres to make the state a certified seed producer.

According to him, 30 youths have been trained already on rice seed and cassava cotton multiplication.

The commissioner said the e-agriculture initiative was introduced to keep a database of farmers for proper evaluation of all agricultural programmes in the state.

He said VCDP as a programme was designed to succeed, adding that it had helped the state to come tops in rice and cassava production.

Mbanefo commended VCDP on the series of trainings and other interventions for the farmers on the best agronomic practices in rice and cassava.