The Federal Government, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have embarked on a joint supervision mission of the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises – Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) Project in the Niger Delta region.

LIFE-ND is an initiative of the Nigerian Government in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as well as State Governments in the Niger Delta.

The specific objective of the project is to enhance income, food security, and job creation for rural youth and women through agri-enterprise development on a sustainable basis in the nine Niger Delta States of Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Ondo States (IFAD financed) and Akwa-Ibom, Imo, and Rivers (NDDC financed).

During the inception workshop of the LIFE-ND supervision mission, the Country Director of IFAD, Mrs Dede Ekoue said the supervision mission provides them with an opportunity to support LIFE ND to catalyze additional progress youth and women agribusiness, food security, and inclusive and sustainable economic growth through the agri-food sector in the Niger Delta.

She said the stakeholders will review the progress made since the Mid-Term Review (MTR), and identify additional strategies to deliver more value to the youth and women agribusinesses and the Niger Delta communities served by the project.

The Representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Ms Mounet Sadiku said the LIFE-ND is a cornerstone of Nigeria’s strategy to address unemployment, enhance food security, and unlock the immense potential of the Niger Delta region’s agricultural sector.

“Our primary objective during this mission is to assess the implementation progress and the achievement of outputs by component and outcome indicators post the Mid Term Review in accordance with the project’s logical framework.

Sadiku further stated that the mission provides an opportunity to focus its efforts on identifying and removing any bottlenecks that may be hindering the progress of the project.

“By working together, we aim to propose actionable solutions to resolve these implementation challenges, ensuring a smoother path forward for the LIFE-ND project.

“Additionally, I am pleased to inform you that the Ministry of Finance is working closely with IFAD to secure the approval of additional finance. This will further enhance our capacity to address the challenges faced by our farmers and expand the positive impact of the LIFE-ND project”, she added.

Dr Abiodun Sanni, the National Project Coordinator Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) expressed hope that the mission review will show the contributions of the project in food security, job and wealth creation.

“We are quite hopeful that this mission will reveal that LIFE-ND for the past five years has contributed significantly to meeting the programme development objective in ensuring food security, creating jobs and reasonable income for the rural youth and women in the Niger Delta region using sustainable agricultural development as a modality for achieving this.

“So, we are quite hopeful that the mission, after visiting all the sites and reviewing all we have done will be impressed by what LIFE-ND has done in the past five years,” Dr Sanni said.

Also, Bukar Musa, Director Project Coordinating Unit, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security explained that “supervision missions are usually an integral part of any project life cycle, it has been designed that after certain period, supervision mission will be taken as well as mid-term reviews to find out how the projects are going”.

The project targets to reach 900 matured enterprises (incubators) and 38,250 apprentices. It will work through the incubators to mentor the38,250 apprentices (comprising 25,000 in the 6 IFAD states and 12,750 in 3 NDDC states) to engage in agribusiness.

The project targets 50 per cent male and 50 per cent female participation. It works on seven priority commodities including Rice, Cassava, Plantain, Oil Palm, Cocoa, Poultry, and fishery (aquaculture and artisanal).

Overall, LIFE-AND has reached 26,470 smallholder farmers against 25,500 LoP targets representing 103 per cent. As a result of increased profit from sales of products, the farmers recorded increased income which enabled them to acquire additional household assets as affirmed by 52.4 per cent of outcome survey respondents.