The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises, Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) has launched an “Agribusiness Innovative Forum (LAbIF)” to boost jobs and wealth creation across the Niger Delta states.
LIFE-ND is a project funded by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) in partnership with the Federal Government with counterpart funding from participating states of the Niger Delta.
Speaking at the launch in Calabar on Thursday, the National Project Coordinator of LIFE-ND, Dr Sanni Fatai Abiodun, said the essence of the forum was to ensure that all the value chain actors within the project’s commodities have a platform to deliberate on how to improve productivity and ensure availability of market for products and food security within the Niger Delta region.
Dr Fatai said the forum will further assist the LIFE-ND’s incubation model of agribusiness development by guaranteeing that a significant portion of the unemployed youth and women are involved in successful agribusiness in the Niger Delta.
“LIFE-ND as of today has created and supported 22,150 enterprises out of the targeted 25,500 across the participating six states of Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Ondo.
“It has injected over USD30 million into the rural economy of these states while also boosting agricultural productivity and value addition across our seven commodities chain,” the National Project Coordinator said.
The Cross River State Commissioner for Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Mr Ntufam Emmanuel, said the forum would increase food security in the area by stepping up agricultural operations and bringing on board all value chain participants.
The commissioner said with the success so far recorded in the LIFE-ND programme, the Agribusiness Innovation Forum will boost the farmers’ access to finance, market, and other value chain activities, adding that the state will offer all the necessary support, including payment of the counterpart fund for the project.
Some of the participants who spoke with Daily Trust at the launch said the project had opened their eyes to so many opportunities in the agricultural sector, adding that the Agribusiness Innovative Forum will further strengthen their capacity to manage and network for better opportunities.
A fish farmer from Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state, Mrs Offiong Bassey, said that the project would assist a large number of beneficiaries in strengthening and advancing their agribusiness ventures, adding that many of those who benefited from the LFE-ND program are already employers of labour.
