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Over 1700 youths and women are currently undergoing several forms of trainings and empowerments in Cross River State through the Agro Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support Project known as APPEALS Project. TDN can authoritatively confirm.
Speaking in a media parley Thursday, in Calabar the Cross River State Project Coordinator, Dr Marcel Agim said the project which is meant to enhance the agricultural productivity of small and medium scale farmers, as well as improve value addition along the priority value chains in the participating state is currently engaging 1700 youths and women who are beneficiaries of the project.
He hinted that although various states in Nigeria are part of the project, Cross River State stands out differently in it's design. stating that in other states, the Commissioner for Agriculture oversees the project, but in Cross River State, both the Commissioner for Agriculture and the Ministry for International Development Cooperation oversees the project and the World Bank is in support and is aware of this initiative by the State ''.
Agim went on to inform that the projects which is in four stages will see beneficiaries go through a training process in different value chains, get their businesses registered for them with Corporate Affairs Commission, then they will be assisted with grants and finally be attached to mentors who will guide and coach them through the various businesses.
He disclosed that the funds given to the beneficiaries are loans the state government secured from the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria which will surely be refunded, thus the strict methods applied to ensure that beneficiaries so not misuse the funds.
His words: "when this project came, there was an agreement signed between this project and the Federal Ministry of finance.
"We support farmers to get out of poverty, we support young men and women who are going into business. We don't just give money just like that, we ensure that you are qualified.
"The reason why we are called appeal is because we serve as an intermediary between the government and the farmers , so we discuss issues relating to farmers to the government, of course we can't do this alone, we don't have that kind of money, so we working side by side with the government."
Again, urged farmers, and youths to key into the Initiatives, as it is design friendly leading to creation of jobs, supports and bring about development and stability.
TDN understands that the numbers of direct beneficiaries for the project is estimated at 60,000 individuals per state, and 300,000 farm household members as indirect beneficiaries. It is also estimated that 35 percent, of which 21,000 individuals will be women.
The project has a sub-component to benefit women, and youth to enabling them to develop Agricultural businesses which are expected to create jobs and improve their livelihoods.
The APPEALS project, is a six year project developed by the Federal Ministry Of Agriculture and Rural Development, to upscale, improve the livelihood of farmers, giving support to small and large scale business Enterprise.
The media parley which had "Accurate Information Recipe For Robust Relationship /Successful Project Branding" as it's theme was initiated by the need to constantly engage Stakeholders including the media to forestall unnecessary rumours and assumptions capable of generating grievances particularly now that the project is tilting towards closure. As well as the need to keep them abreast of our modest success in the state.
Recall that the Cross River APPEALS Project participated in the recently held 14th National Agricultural Exhibition Show in Nasarawa State.
The state went with products ranging from Bagged and branded Destoned Rice, Cocoa custard, Cocoa bread amongst others.
National Agricultural Exhibition/Show is a yearly event that generally provides a platform for farmers, farming agencies/ Institutes, manufacturers and donor funders in agricultural to create awareness of products and services, form alliances, network and access information on new technologies.
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