The Federal Government of Nigeria in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development Value Chain Development Programme, FG/IFAD-VCDP, has called for the institutionalisation of key interventions including the Gender Action Learning System, GALS, Commodity Alliance Forum, CAF, and Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture, NSA, into the Benue State Agricultural Development Policy.
The National Programme Coordinator of FG/IFAD-VCDP, Dr. Fatima Aliyu, made the call during a Policy Dialogue Meeting on VCDP interventions in Benue State, held over the weekend in Makurdi. Dr. Aliyu, who was represented by the Knowledge Management and Communications Advisor, Vera Onyeaka-Oyilo, said policy support was required to sustain the impact of the programme.
She stated that GALS, CAF, and NSA had played key roles in the success of VCDP in the state but warned that GALS remains limited as it is “confined to donor supported projects thereby limited, unsustainable and unable to achieve state wide transformation.”
She urged that GALS be integrated into “State Agricultural and Gender Policies” and scaled up through a multi-sectoral approach to cover health, education, community development, cooperative development, rural finance, and youth empowerment programmes.
According to her, this would guarantee inclusive growth, social impact, and strengthened household welfare.
Dr. Aliyu further disclosed that through CAF, “Benue VCDP has contributed 99,452 metric tons of rice worth N13.527billion through private partnership arrangement and 87,237 metric tons of cassava worth N3.925billion to Benue as well as Nigeria’s food security and economy.”
She noted that CAF still lacked a formal legal and policy framework in the state’s agricultural system. She said, “When institutionalized through a state policy it will ensure long-term sustainability, enhance market linkages, strengthen public-private-producers-partnerships, and expand its benefits beyond donor-funded programmes like IFAD-VCDP.”
She also stressed the importance of mainstreaming nutrition into the state’s agricultural policies, explaining that the integration of Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture would “improves cross sector collaboration and institutional ownership.”
Earlier, the State Programme Coordinator of IFAD-VCDP, Dr. Emmanuel Igbaukum, explained that the meeting was convened to allow stakeholders in the cassava and rice value chains to review areas where the programme had excelled as it approaches its 2026 closure.
According to him, “the meeting would see how these areas that recorded huge successes particularly CAF, GALS and Nutrition are institutionalised and backed by policies to ensure sustainability.”
The Commissioner for Agricultural and Food Security, Dr. Benjamin Anchaver, represented by Permanent Secretary, Elijah Ogaagbenu, commended the programme’s achievements and pledged that the state government would continue leveraging the initiative to boost women’s livelihoods, agricultural production, and nutrition.
Stakeholders from MDAs, farmers, and private sector groups also pledged to follow up on the three strategic areas to ensure they are fully integrated and supported by policy.