Lessons From IFAD’s Success In Edo State

Hon. Abdul Oroh

Edo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hon. Abdul Oroh has appealed to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) not to wind down the Community-Based Natural Resources Management Programme (CBNRMP) but should rather strengthen same.

Oroh, who made this appeal during an exclusive interview with AgroNigeria team in his home in Edo State, said the programme is well conceived.

“I think it’s a well conceived programme we have been happy to work with. The only problem I’ve seen is that we cannot expand it down to all the local government areas. Also, I’m told the programme is winding down, I think a good programme should not wind down rather it should be stepped up,” Oroh said.
He said youths, who initially had reservations about the programme, are today not only self-employed, but they are entrepreneurs.

“Unemployed youths who were engaged to develop their fish ponds were initially sceptical, they wanted to work in the banks or go to Lagos or Abuja to do something but they found themselves now taking care of their own lives. They are not only formulating the feeds, or drying the fish but they are also into marketing and they are making money and expanding.

“Most of our women on the other hand, are now running their poultries either as individuals or as cooperatives. We have some processing plants that we have established, we have the rice plant in Udoshi, we have cassava processing plant in Ogbuneken and a couple of other places. We also created infrastructure around those places like a borehole which members of those communities will benefit from and not just those who are members of the cooperatives or the farmers associations,” he said.

Oroh, while disclosing how successful the intervention programme was said “I would say it is a very successful programme in Edo State. The intervention is in nine local government areas but I think the multiplier effect has gone beyond the nine local governments. Three local governments were picked from each senatorial district and it covers areas like fisheries, aquaculture, crop, processing, access to market training and building of infrastructure.

“It has also assisted them in developing a saving culture -where you put some money in for investment for the raining days. The programme has also succeeded in training them to work together and to venture into new areas giving them the confidence to vary their scopes of operations. For instance, you see those who are growing only yam for their families, now they have gone beyond that. They grow yam, they now grow cassava, vegetable, citrus and many more,” he said CBNRMP is an IFAD intervention programme meant to invest in rural people.

The programme has made community development fund available to support local initiatives in sustainable livelihood improvement, natural resource management and the provision of small-scale community infrastructure.

The goal of the programme is to improve the standards of living and quality of life of the poor rural people in the Niger Delta, with a special focus on women and young people, spread across the nine Niger Delta states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers, where poverty is severe and widespread despite a wealth of natural resources.

It has been observed that poverty is especially prevalent among small-scale farmers cultivating food crops and among fishing communities using only rudimentary equipment. These groups lack food security and are highly vulnerable to environmental shocks. The programme encourages them to participate in developmental activities.

It also builds the capacity of government institutions at different levels to meet the needs of these groups, and consolidates partnerships among donors, NGOs and other agencies.

A major concern is to reduce tension and conflict by improving employment opportunities for young people and channeling their energies into the development of sustainable livelihoods and natural resource management activities.