Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
As part of the efforts of government to combat food scarcity and arrest its soaring costs as well as its hard biting effects on the citizenry, Kwara State Government has flagged off another agicultural programme.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who flagged off Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES), a six-year $500m food security programme supported by the World Bank and the Federal Government said his government had invested in the development of livestock sector to maximise its potential.
According to him; “Kwara has a comparative advantage in all areas of livestock production, particularly in beef and dairy production. It serves as forms of income and wealth for families to better access financial services.
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“It is a major form of financial instrument to families, especially now that we are talking about financial inclusion, improvement in standard of living, and improving our GDP in the state.”
He added that the State government had invested in the development of livestock sector to maximise its potential, particularly in beef and dairy production adding that; “This is why our focus has been on developing, upgrading, and transforming the economy in terms of livestock development. This has had positive impacts on smallholder farmers while also reducing farmer-herder conflicts in the state.
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“We aim to ensure that the smallholder farmers become commercial farmers so that they can respond to demand for quality food from the urban centres, climate change, contribution to global economy and also ensure that families have adequate supply of animal protein and improved livelihood.
“For these reasons, our administration keyed into programmes like the special agro processing zone and livestock productivity and resilience support project that we are flagging off today.
“Indeed, the utmost objective is in line with our administration’s vision of uplifting the vulnerable, improving the activities of smallholder farmers, providing critical infrastructure for modern livestock production and also mitigating the clash between pastoralists and crop farmers.”
“We should also work alongside RAAMP (Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project) to make sure we deliver. We will strive to engage more progressively to make sure we deliver this project on time,” he added.
The governor solicited for an improved coordination and synergy for the design and implementation of SAP-Z and L-PRES, given the similarities of the projects.