Dr Charles Iyangbe, Senior Agricultural Economist, Office of Economic Growth and Environment, USAID Nigeria, has said that prioritise would be given to grow business opportunities in rice, maize, soybean, and cowpea.
Iyangbe made this known in a statement in Abuja that USAID Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services Activity with support from the Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta(PIND).
It said it would enable smallholder farmers and micro, small and medium and Small entrepreneurs (MSMEs) to better understand the opportunities that abound in these value chain commodities through the MIPs presented to enhance their income and improve livelihoods.
According to the statement, this would aimed to build the capacity of MSMEs to deliver extension and advisory services to value chain stakeholders and strengthen linkages between agricultural research institutions,
“ The Activity collaborates with federal and state governments and leverages the power of Nigerian entrepreneurship to facilitate learning, replication, and scale around alternative models of extension to measurably increase productivity
“ Income and nutritional status of two million smallholder producers in Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi, and Niger states.
The Activity works would focus on the information and service needs of the “average” farming household – the representative majority of smallholders within the target value chains who produce the greater part of the production.
The statement said the workshop was attended by senior government officials from the federal and state government, USAID Nigeria, development partners,
Others include key private sectors companies and investors, universities, research institutions, producer groups, lead farmers, aggregators, processors, and others engaged in the commodity value chains in Nigeria.
