NAN-AE-7
Commendation
By Kudirat Musa
Jalingo, Nov. 21, 2017 (NAN) The Taraba Government on Tuesday lauded the World Bank for the implementation of its North-East Food Security and Livelihood Emergency Support Project and called for more of its intervention across the state.
The support project was executed under Fadama III Second Additional Financing (AFII).
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr David Ishaya, gave the commendation in a goodwill message during the bank’s presentation of its mission report in Jalingo.
Ishaya, represented by FADAMA III Project Coordinator, Mrs Regina Festus, said that the project made tremendous impact in the state.
“The 67 communities with 2,680 households have access to food assistance and agricultural livelihood support in the areas of crops, livestock and fishery.
“The beneficiaries were given advisory services and capacity building training in sustainable development and restoration of the agricultural production activities.
“We carried the host community along by giving them these support which has solved a lot of problems and made the IDPs to be more comfortable within the community that hosted them,’’ he said.
He said that Taraba state was an outlet for all the Internal Display Persons (IDPs) and noted that the number of the IDPs in the state was more than what it could accommodate.
He said: “Most of them are from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Benue and Nassarawa but with the help of Fadama III AFII project, they feel at home in our state.
“Even, most of the returnees are complementing Fadama intervention because they have lost hope and are devastated.
“They do not know how to start all over again because they thought nobody will ever remember them. The Fadama intervention now makes them believe that government did not forget them.
He, however, urged the World Bank and the Federal Government to initiate more programmes for the residents.
Dr Ben Herbert, an agribusiness specialist in the National FADAMA Coordination Office who led the mission team also commended the State Government for its support.
“I say well done to the state government for the successful implementation of the FADAMA III (AF11) intervention project which started a year ago in the state.
“We are here to ascertain what you have done in the last one year and plan ahead for the betterment of the project.
“One of the objectives of this mission is to assess the level of implementation of FADAMA III (AFII) project in states.
“It also undertakes field visits to verify the execution of the approved Community Action Plans (CAPs) and provide technical guidance where necessary,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that FADAMA III AF11is being implemented in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Taraba, Gombe and Yobe states. (NAN)
ROK/ AOM/EMO
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Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed/Ejike Obeta