The Federal Government on Tuesday inaugurated the FGN/IFAD-Ebonyi State Value Chain Development Programme and flagged off the 2025 dry season farming inputs and equipment distribution exercise in Ebonyi State, marking a renewed push toward mechanised agriculture.
Speaking at the event, the National Programme Coordinator of International Funds for Agriculture Development, IFAD, Fatima Aliyu, said the government was “committed to transforming old farming practices to mechanised and technology driven systems for both subsistent and commercial farmers” to ensure food security in Nigeria.
Aliyu explained that the Federal Government’s IFAD Value Chain Development Programme is targeting the transformation of agricultural practices in eight of the thirteen council areas of Ebonyi State in South East Nigeria into mechanical and technology driven farming systems.
She noted that Ebonyi State is predominantly known for large scale cultivation of rice, cassava and yam, among other crops, making it strategic for the programme’s implementation and impact.
At the flag-off of the 2025 distribution of dry season farming inputs and equipment, Aliyu and other officials observed that over thirty three thousand farmers in Ebonyi State have already benefitted from the Value Chain Development Programme.
They said farming has gone beyond subsistence practice to commercial production, “hence the need for mechanised practice,” while reassuring farmers of continued IFAD and other institutional support.
Food security experts described the commencement of this year’s dry season farming exercise as a catalyst to economic growth, saying it would lift families out of poverty and increase efficiency in food production across the state.
Some beneficiaries told AIT that mechanised farm equipment would help eliminate manual cultivation, encourage dry season farming, and improve productivity, while the inputs would boost yield and economic benefits for farmers.
IFAD and Ebonyi State government officials formally inaugurated the Value Chain Development Programme and flagged off the distribution of dry season farming equipment and inputs, including high yield rice seedlings, fertilisers, cassava processing machines, dryers, slashers, among others, for beneficiaries.
