The European Union (EU), Oxfam in Nigeria and other stakeholders have applauded the 10 million euro EU support to Food Security and Resilience (PROSELL) project in Taraba.
They made this known during a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, organised by Oxfam to appraise PROSELL achievements while identifying changes and challenges to develop sustainability for the project.r
Reports has it that the EU in 2018 launched the PROSELL project, to improve the resilience of small scale farmers, fishermen and livestock owners in the face of shocks from climate change, such as changing rainfall patterns, drought and desertification.
The projects is being implemented in Takum, Zing, Kurmi, Donga, Wukari and Ardokola Local Government Areas of Taraba.
The project being implemented by Oxfam and Development Exchange Centre (DEC) would run for 54 months targeting 40,000 households in the six participating LGAs.
The EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Samuela Isopi said the 10 million euro budget for the project was part of the union’s taxpayers solidarity with Nigeria, to make an impact in food security, poverty alleviation and access to food.
Represented by Temitayo Omole, Programme Manager, Social and Community Development, said the EU 2014 Assessment Needs exercise, indicated that Taraba, Adamawa and Kebbi had the highest burden of food insecurity in the country.
She said that following that analysis and taking the limited resources into consideration, EU picked Kebbi and Adamawa in the first round of funding, adding that when additional funding came up Taraba was picked as focal sector for food security.
“The EU funding in practice is catalytic to demonstrate possibility with regards to the issue of food security, the implementation has been quite good in fact, it has met our expectation from different criteria.
“This is in terms of the management of resources, identification of beneficiaries, communities and locations, the interaction that we are having with key stakeholders like the state and the six LGAs where the programme is being implemented in Taraba.
“One of the key indicators for success in the implementation is the capability of the programme to empower our government counterparts at the state and local government levels, and at the community level to be able to do things better .
“It has also expanded the scope of possibilities in terms of service delivery, especially extension services. So, yes implementation is definitely going well,’’ she said.
Isopi said the expected outcome from the project was access to food and strengthening of government systems and structures to provide more services to support Taraba indigenes.
The Country Director, Oxfam in Nigeria, Dr Vincent Ahonsi said the PROSELL project would build the resilience of 40,000 small scale farmers, fishermen and livestock owners made up of 50 per cent women, 30 per cent youth and 20 per cent vulnerable households in commodity value chain and agric enterprises.
Ahonsi said the project followed the success of Pro-Resilience Action (PROACT), a similar EU-funded/Oxfam-implemented project that reached over 35,000 households in Kebbi and Adamawa.
“The project has been strengthening the capacities of over 40,000 households who rely on agriculture and other natural resource based livelihoods.”
He said the PROSELL project has demonstrated that rural livelihoods could be greatly improved through a hybrid of approaches aimed at building capacities to optimise livelihood activities, facilitate rural financial inclusion among others.
“As we review the fourth year performance of the project, let this be an opportunity for us to rethink the fundamental importance of strengthening systems to build resilience and ensure quality, equitable, inclusive and gender sensitive food security,” Ahonsi said.
He urged participants to share knowledge and ideas on possible ways to chart pathways for the sustainability of the gains of the project .
Also speaking, Mr Dakwahal Simon, Principal Executive Officer, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, lauded the EU and Oxfam for supporting Nigeria’s agricultural development.
He said the federal government through the ministry was ready to explore areas of collaborations with Oxfam and other development partners, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of a hunger free country and eradicate poverty.
According to him, the government is working to ensure that its policies trickle down to rural dwellers so that agriculture becomes the main stay of the economy instead of oil.
“My take home is the success story of Oxfam in Taraba and what the government can do to improve on the project and sustain the collaboration.”
The Taraba Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr David Ishaya thanked EU for the gesture, saying that in 2017, the Gov. Dairus Ishaku approached the EU and sought for intervention in the area of agriculture, health, water among others.
He said Taraba as an agrarian state has a lot of potentials but limited fund, noting that the EU in her wisdom provided agriculture intervention in the state.
He said: “The intervention is to the poorest of the poor farmers in about 40,000 households across 80 communities.
“The poor are carefully selected by PROSELL and the intervention is being done, and to my assessment, the project has fared very well and made some positive impact in the lives of the poorest of the poor”.
A traditional ruler, Ikpi Polycarp, Tih Manya in Takum LGA, expressed gratitude to the EU, Oxfam and DEC for the gesture, adding that prior to the intervention, the beneficiaries sought for help from traditional rulers.
“However, through PROSELL project, the burden on the traditional rulers have been lessened as they can now feed their families and even empower others in their communities. I thank God for this project,” he said.
Also, a beneficiary of the project from Wukari, Mrs Charity Yuhanna, said the intervention had encouraged her to quit begging and engage in crop production and other trade.
Corroborating the stance, Mr Iliya Luka said he increased his production capacity, bought a motorcycle and grinding machine from the loan facility provided under the project.
“With the gains I made from operating the grinding machine, I repaid the loan,” he said.(NAN)
