The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has disclosed that it has spent $604.6 million (N277.84 billion) to support the growth of the agricultural sector in 28 states in Nigeria.
In the impacted states, he said that co-financing from both local and foreign sources was included in the investments between 2016 and 2023.
Abdulhameed Girai, the Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser for IFAD, revealed yesterday during a two-day regional consultative workshop in Maiduguri that the intervention programs launched by IFAD have benefited over 5.2 million people in 28 states of the nation.

He said that the two-day regional consultative workshop was organized to outline Nigeria’s agriculture project execution strategy from 2024 to 2029.

According to him, the COSOP (Country Strategic Opportunities Program) has been working with the beneficiaries for the past seven years.

“IFAD is providing viable interventions to support farmers and facilitate sustainable agricultural development in the country,” he said.

He listed the numerous agricultural programs that would be carried out as follows: “They included Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP); Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise Programme (LIFE-ND); and Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ).”

Creating Employment Opportunities for Rural Youth in Africa, for example, was one of the IFAD’s intervention programs that the beneficiaries had also participated in, according to him.

He claimed that the measures were made to aid in the 28 states that were targeted in integrating agribusiness centres.

“There would be the implementation of Youth Empowerment in Agri-Business and Sustainable Agriculture Projects (YEASA), Promoting Sustainable Cage Agriculture in West Africa (pro-SCAWA) as well as agricultural transformation in Nigeria towards achieving zero hunger initiatives,” he added.

He continued by saying that 4 464 farmer organizations, 51 415 rural producers, 3 761 marketing groups, 240 Community Development Associations (CDAs), and the creation of 138 Financial Saving Associations have all benefited from and been enhanced by FGN/IFAD programs.

According to him, the workshop’s goal was to interact with participants and gather feedback from government representatives, farmers, and adolescents on how to improve the following program between 2024 and 2029.