By JOHN ONAH, Abuja –
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has allocated the sum of $4.5 million to the FCT Fadama CARES programme to implement three disbursement linked Indicators (DLIs) out of a total allocation of $15 million made available to the FCTA by the World Bank for implementation of the FCT CARES programme.
The FCT Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, made this revelation at the official flag off of disbursement of grant to third batch of FCT FADAMA CARES beneficiaries for year 2023/2024 Dry Season production held at FADAMA office, Gwagwalada, Abuja.
The FCT Administration and World Bank has set a target for the FCT Fadama CARES programme to provide grants support to 12,283 individual farmers as well as upgrade 17 Wet Markets across the Federal Capital Territory.
She noted that the event was another significant indicator of the unflinching determination of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment towards the actualization of his Administration’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” which was designed with the specific purpose of revitalizing and deepening the nation’s economy through deliberate far reaching interventions in key sectors.
According to her, “it is heartwarming to note that the agricultural sector has been chosen as one of the critical intervention areas under the “Renewed Hope Agenda” to facilitate the attainment of food and nutritional security, provision of raw materials to our local industries, generation of gainful employment for our teeming unemployed youths, as well as contributing significantly towards increasing the inflow of foreign exchange through export.
“The specific objective of the FCT Fadama CARES programme is to increase food security and safe functioning of food supply chain in the FCT.
“The programme is deliberately designed to support the recovery of livelihood activities of poor and vulnerable households engaged in Agricultural value chains in the FCT with special consideration to women and unemployed youths.
“Its implementation is being anchored on the World Bank Community Driven Development approach for deployment of programme investments at the community level”.
While congratulating the 3,707 successful beneficiaries selected from thirty nine farmers community associations for disbursement of grants under this third batch by the FCT Fadama CARES programme, Mahmoud, however, assured that the FCT Fadama CARES Programme will increase to 7940 having earlier disbursed grants to 4233 beneficiaries under the first and second batches.
On his part, the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, revealed that other delivery platforms implementing result areas 1 and 3 of the FCT CARES programme namely; FCT Cash Transfer Unit, FCT Community and Social Development Project and Abuja Enterprise Agency have since commenced implementation of their respective Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).
He, therefore, called on the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat and indeed the FCT Fadama CARES office to re-double their efforts towards ensuring the successful implementation of the FCT CARES Result Area 2.
In his remarks, the Mandate Secretary Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Hon. Lawal Kolo Geidam, said the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS) is always ready to provide FCT Fadama CARES programme the necessary support in delivering this vital project.
“We will work with you closely during the course of the project implementation and will not hesitate to make available to you our technical and financial resources to ensure its successful delivery,” he stressed.
The items distributed include fertilizers, seeds and agro-chemicals, sprayers and personal protective equipment for crop farmers, day old chicks and feeds for poultry farmers among others.
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