The Lagos State Government remarks that the FADAMA Model is worth emulating on various levels by the governments to improve the agricultural practices in the country.
Mr Gbolahan Lawal, the State Commissioner for Agriculture made this known during the visit of the members of the Implementation Completion Review (ICR) Mission Team of FADAMA in his office at Alausa.
The objective of FADAMA is to increase the incomes of farmers, reduce rural poverty level and also increase food security. The FADAMA team comprised of the representatives from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Project Coordinating Unit (PCU), Federal Ministry of Finance and Consultants.
Enugu, Fadama to Boost Rice Production
Fadama is the Hausa name for an irrigating, low-lying plain underlain by the “shallow” aquifers found along the major river systems. The Fadama concept is an old tradition in Hausa, where flooded land is used to grow a variety of crops, small-scale irrigation, fishing and providing feed and water for livestock purpose.
It is a grant from the World Bank through the Federal Government to support the ramping and upscaling of the selected staples including rice, cassava, tomato, sorghum across the country with the Lagos State participating as a core state with rice mandate.
The Commissioner said that “the State Government is already planning to mainstream the FADAMA model into its agriculture delivery system and that Lagos state has already keyed into the Additional Financing Project with an investment in the upgrade of 2.5 tonnes rice mill at Imota to a 32 tonnes per hour.
Investment Opportunities in Rice Production in Nigeria
Mr Lawal implored the governments at all levels to mainstream the Fadama model into their activities and expressed willingness of the State Government to partner with other states and stakeholders to source paddy for the rice mills and also urged the members of the team to visit the site of the nearly-completed rice mill when the team embarked on the field visits of FADAMA project.
Dr Peter Kukwi, the FADAMA Team Leader, explained that his team is on a statutory exercise to review the FADAMA III AF activities with a view to independently assess and ascertain besides documenting the project’s achievements and also making recommendations for the future projects.
