World Bank approves extra funding for FCT FADAMA NG-CARES

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By Uche Bibilari

The FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), says the World Bank has approved request for the second phase of the FCT FADAMA COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme.

The Mandate Secretary of ARDS, Mr Lawan Geidam, said this at the inauguration of the Pre-Field training of Enumerators responsible for the generation of field data for the conduct of FCT FADAMA CARES programme.

Geidam said that the programme was for the Endline and Beneficiaries Impact Assessment Survey on Wednesday in Gwagwalada.

He said that the Federal Government had initially requested for additional financing to continue the implementation of the CARES programme following the successes recorded during the FCT FADAMA (NG-CARES 1.0) programme nation wide.

He said that the World Bank had approved the request and renamed the programme-Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES 2.0) programme expected to commence in June.

According to him, the training is one out of a series of events marking the commencement of technical closure processes for the first phase of NG-CARES Programme (NG-CARES 1.0).

“I am glad to inform all that under the NG-CARES 1.0, FCT FADAMA CARES had successfully disbursed grants to 12,423 individual beneficiaries from 181 Farmers Community Association across the FCT.

“Out of these, 8,190 beneficiaries representing 66 per cent of the total disbursements were supported within less than two years period of our administration.

“The FCT CARES Programme is an emergency response supported by the World Bank to help farmers recover from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

”The programme has been supporting poor and vulnerable farmers in the FCT since 2022″, he said.

He said that the programme signified the attainment of another significant milestone by the secretariat towards ensuring the attainment of food and nutritional security in the FCT.

Giedam commended the efforts and the achievement by the FCT FADAMA CARES programme during the implementation of the first phase of NG-CARES 1.0.

The mandate secretary assured the beneficiaries of the secretariat’s support as they commence the second phase.

He urged the trainees to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the FCT FADAMA CARES programme to enhance their knowledge.

He said that this would significantly facilitate the successful conduct of the endline and beneficiary impact assessment survey.

The Acting FCT FADAMA CARES Coordinator, Hussaini Iliyasu, said that the objective of the FCT CARES was to increase food security and safe functioning of food supply chain.

Iliyasu said that the programme was a World Bank budget support to the FCT, targeted at existing and newly emerging vulnerable and poor households on agricultural value chains.

He assured the secretary that the team would continue to give its best towards ensuring the successful closure of the NG-CARES 1.0 programme and the commencement of NG-CARES 2.0.

The FCT CARES Coordinator, Mr Uba Bala, said that the World Bank had recommended that a programme Implementation Completion Report be carried out to appraise the team’s performance for future remedies.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highlight of the event was the handover of office equipment to the FCT FADAMA CARES desk offices in the six area councils. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Kadiri Abdulrahman

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