NAN-AE-2
FADAMA
By Kudirat Musa
Yola, Nov. 17, 2017 (NAN) The Adamawa Government on Friday lauded FADAMA programme for promoting the state’s development but urged it to be more gender sensitive in the implementation of its projects.
Mrs Felicia Nzomisaki, the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Agriculture, conveyed the government’s position on Friday in Yola when the mission team of FADAMA III Second Additional Financing (AFII) programme visited her.
Nzomisaki said that the FADAMA project had recorded laudable achievements in Adamawa, particularly because of its impact across all the local government areas of the state.
“FADAMA activities have really helped us. For instance, whenever non-governmental organisations (NGOs) come here and discover what FADAMA is doing here, they always want to align with us because of FADAMA.
“FADAMA activities in the state have gone a long way toward assisting our farmers and, indeed, the entire citizens of the state.
“FADAMA is only intervention programme that has stood the test of time and its impact is seen everywhere in the state,’’ she added.
The permanent secretary expressed the government’s gratitude for the successful implementation of the FADAMA programme in the state.
She said that the recognition of the valuable input of the FADAMA programme into the state’s development had encouraged the government to approve the release of N20 million counterpart funds for the project.
Nzomisaki, nonetheless, urged the National FADAMA Coordination Office to ensure that the implementation of its projects was gender sensitive so as to boost the achievement of the goals of the programme.
“Women ought to be given the same opportunities as the men; I discovered that we have enough female professionals who can do better than most of the male professionals who are engaged by FADAMA.
“If the women are encouraged, I am sure they could have ideas that are better than those of the male professionals. That is why I am advocating increased representation of women in FADAMA teams,’’ she said.
Earlier, Dr Ben Herbert, Agribusiness Specialist in the National FADAMA Coordination Office, who is the leader of the mission teams, commended the state government for supporting the project.
“I say well done to the state government for the successful implementation of the FADAMA III (AF11) intervention project in the state, which started a year ago.
“We are here to ascertain what you have done, what you are expected to do in last one year and plan ahead for the betterment of the project.
“The objectives of this mission are to assess the level of implementation of the FADAMA III (AFII) project in states, undertake field visits to verify the execution of the approved Community Action Plans (CAPs) and provide technical guidance where necessary.’’
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the FADAMA III (AF11) intervention project, which is also known as the North East Food Security and Livelihood Emergency Support Project, is being implemented in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Taraba, Gombe and Yobe states. (NAN)
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