By Dare Akogun

THE Kwara State government has augmented the number of farmers that will benefit in the first disbursement of the Kwara Fadama NG-CARES project.

The State Project Coordinator Busari Toyin Isiaka while announcing the approval of the additional 3,000 beneficiaries before the Community Facilitators at the Kwara Fadama Office, Ilorin, said that the addition will include crop farmers.

He said they will complement the 3,000 livestocks farmers earlier proposed to be captured in the first disbursement slated for the first six months of the project implementation.

The state Fadama boss revealed that the development would enhance the platform to come up with 6,000 beneficiaries.

The coordinator, Busari, who declared that state governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq took the decision to create more opportunities for poor and vulnerable farmers, noted that it will enhance food security.

According to him, “With this new development, the platform has been strengthened to be able to reach out to 6,000 beneficiaries instead of 3,000 in the first six months of implementation. Remember that this project will last for two years, meaning that there will be four events of disbursement within the period of two years, this will make the aggregate of beneficiaries 19,695.

“Fadama NG-CARES Project is, to an extent, an ameliorating mechanism to hunger and poverty.

“As a delivery platform, we assure that we will not let the governor down. The Fadama NG-CARES Project will translate into a remarkable lifeline for the beneficiaries and an epochal achievement for the state.”

Busari recalled that the Fadama NG-CARES Project, which is an agricultural intervention programme, was initiated to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

He further explained that while the livestock disbursement will cover only eight LGAs (Ilorin West, Ilorin South, Ilorin East, Asa, Oyun, Offa, Moro and Edu) the crop disbursement (involving rice, maize and soya beans) will be spread across all the 16 LGAs in the state.

Busari therefore charged all the Community Facilitators to handle the exercise with commitment and ensure that duplication of beneficiaries was avoided.

Other members of the Project Implementation Unit that made presentations to update the facilitators at the event included the Community Development and Gender Officer Adebukola Adeyemi, Technical Officer (Inputs) Abdulmalik Zubair, Technical Officer (Assets) Ramat Abdulmalik and others.