The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) noted that it has supported 2,250 women and youths in Edo State through the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) project in order to improve food production and reduce youth restiveness in the Niger Delta region.
Edo State project coordinator, LIFE-ND, John Omoruyi, while conducting journalists round their projects in Edo communities, stated that the 2,250 women and youths selected from various communities in the state were supported across the four commodities, along with their value chain.
The project was co-funded by IFAD, the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the Edo State Government to improve rural livelihoods through the promotion of community-based on-farm and off-farm activities.
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LIFE-ND serves as a mechanism for job creation and wealth creation for the disadvantaged people (youth and women) in the rural and suburban communities across four commodities being promoted in the state, including cassava, fishery, rice, and poultry.
Omoruyi pointed out that the project is generating more employment because they are using sustainable and practical farm technologies to support their farm enterprise, adding that, to promote eco-friendliness, the beneficiaries irrigate their vegetable farms using the water released from the fish ponds.
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According to him, the scheme is fashioned around the incubator model, whereby you have the big farmer that is already established and all potential farmers across 10 councils in each state comprising about 100 communities are spread across the established farms as a model center for practical training.
“The youths from these 100 communities undergo training for certain weeks, graduate, and are then supported across four commodities being promoted in the state, including cassava, fishery, rice, and poultry.”
