Food Security: LIFE -ND empowers 6,000 youths, women in agribusiness in Delta

 Food Security: LIFE -ND empowers 6,000 youths, women in agribusiness in Delta – News Agency of Nigeria



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Front Row: The Permanent Secretary, Delta Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Delta Edmond Orioko (3L), State Coordinator, LIFE-ND Project, Mr Collins Ashoro (3R) with other stakeholders and the media on Wednesday in Asaba at a stocktaking event of the LIFE-ND project in the past Seven years in Delta State
 


Asaba

The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises-Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) project has impacted over 6,000 youths and women through agribusiness in 10 participating local government areas of Delta state.

Mr Collins Ashoro, Delta Coordinator, LIFE-ND Project disclosed this at a Media Roundtable on Wednesday in Asaba.

He said the project adopted the incubation model “apprentice programme; incubator -incubatee model to train the beneficiaries on modern and transformative agribusinesses to create jobs, wealth and grow the state economy.

According to Ashoro, the event is organised to review its achievements in its first phase(Feb. 24, 2019 – March 31, 2025) and the additional financing phase which began in April 2025 to date.

 “The project has empowered a total of 4,373 incubatees/beneficiaries in its first phase and with the additional financing, it has earlier profiled 630 incubatees and will on Thursday inaugurate a new set of 1,020 incubatees.

“This will bring a total of beneficiaries (youths and women) of the project to 6,020 incubatees from inception of the project in 2019 to date in Delta State”.

He said the project was a multi-sectoral and multi-scale programme targeted at the nine states of the Niger Delta region of Edo, Delta, Cross Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Imo, Abia, Ondo and River States.

He said the beneficiaries were youth within age bracket of 18 and 35 years and women-headed households, adding that all profiled incubatees were trained by incubators on prioritised commodities; oil palm processing, fishery, poultry and cassava production and processing value chain.

He said that the Delta beneficiaries were profiled from the participating local government areas of Bomadi, Burutu, Ethiope East, Ika North East, Ika South, Ndokwa West, Ndokwa East, Okpe, Sapele and Ughelli North LGAs

Ashoro, who thanked Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori for the prompt payment of the counterpart fund to sustain the funding of the agricultural transformative project, appealed for further funding release to accommodate other LGAs not captured by the programme.

 “The overall goal of LIFE-ND project is transformation of the rural economy in which all the rural population can drive prosperity and equal benefit.

“The objective of the project is to enhance income, food security, and jobs creation for rural youth and women through agri-enterprise development on a sustainable basis in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.

“The LIFE-ND Agribusiness incubation apprentice programme has completed the first six years phase of empowering 4,373 beneficiaries.

“The project has transited into the Additional Financing phase of three years – March 2025 to March 2028 with a financial plan of $32 million to empower 10, 805 beneficiaries in Delta State”.

The state project coordinator, said the project would be focussing on sustainability, gender issues, persons with disabilities (PWDs), climate smart agriculture, nutrition and efficient youth focussed digital agribusiness solutions.

He, however, highlighted its challenges to include low literacy level of some beneficiaries, bank bureaucracy and low-value of loan available to farmers.

“Also, low savings and records keeping by beneficiaries, high input cost, limited participation by PWDs, and limited funds to expand project to other LGAs, others impede the project.

“However, major stakeholders such as the state government should support beneficiaries with alternative funds to make up for shortfall in asset acquisition as a result of the inflationary trend.

“State government to augment by way of adopting the incubation model and release funds to expand to other non participating LGAs,” Ashoro said.

In his remarks, State Commissioner for  Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Val Arenyeka, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Edmond Orioko, lauded the state LIFE-ND for its achievements over the years.

Arenyeka assured the project coordinator of the ministry’s support to ensure the sustainability of the projects in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that LIFE-ND project is sponsored by the Federal Government and the States Government, financed by the International Funds for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

 
(NAN)(NAN)
  Source: News Agency of Nigeria

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