One million people benefit from IFAD initiative

MORE than one million women and youths have benefited from the International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentCommunity Based Agricultural Rural Development Programme (IFAD-CBARDP) in Kebbi State.Mrs. Hafsat Abubakar, the state gender and vulnerable group officer of the programme, said thisrecentlyin an interview with the News Agency ofNigeria (NAN).She spokeat the Agricultural Show Groundlocated at Kilometre 28, Abuja-Keffi Road, Tudun Wada, Nasarawa State.Abubakarsaid that the programme, which originally lastedseven years between2003 and 2010, had been extended by two more yearsdue to its success.'When theprogrammestarted, wetargeted two million people, but so far, we have succeeded in enhancing the livelihood of over a million ofthe grassroots populace.'Over one million women and youths have benefited from the programme; poverty has been reduced because of the support given to them and with the way we are going, poverty will be eradicated totally from the area,'' she said.She also said thatthe products exhibitedby the state at the agriculture showwerefrom communities where the IFAD programme was operational.Some of theproducts, she said, included calabashes, hand-made sweaters, cassava flour, spices, mixed nutrient formulas, processed and packaged chicken meat as well as groundnut oil.Abubakar further said that the programme targeted remote communities where government presence was absent.
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