The World Bank and as well as a delegation from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Finance on Saturday toured several multimillion Naira agricultural produce processing facilities that have been established in Enugu State.
The initiatives under the Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihoods Improvement Support initiatives are located in 15 centres across the state’s three senatorial zones and are valued at N350 million.
The crew visited a rice processing facility in Nkanu East Local Government Area, Enugu State, and a poultry processing facility in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area.
The APPEALS initiative began in 2017, and while other participating states score higher than Enugu State in terms of project implementation, more than 55,000 people have benefited from the scheme nationwide.
The National Project Coordinator for APPEALS, Mr. Mohammed Jobdi, who was a member of the inspection team, explained that their goal in Enugu State was to gauge the extent of implementation there because the project would end there in September.
Jobdi said: “I can categorically state that more than 55,000 individuals have received help. This number includes youth and women who have been empowered via capacity building, as well as farmers, producers, processors, and marketers.
“We have 15 aggregation and cottage centres with facilities that were intended for Enugu State.
“For Enugu State, we have 15 aggregation and cottage centres with facilities and around 1,700 people had also been helped under the women and youth empowerment programme in each participating state, with 5% of the physically challenged being trained.
The task team leader for the World Bank,Dr. Manieve Sene, stated that they were in Enugu State to learn about the beneficiaries’ successes as well as their problems and solutions.
The initiative has impacted many lives in the state, including those in Amechi Awkunanaw, Nara, 9th Mile, Udi, and Orba, and others according to the Enugu State APPEALS project coordinator, Mrs. Ihuoma Eze, who had praised the World Bank and FG for expanding the APPEALS project to Enugu State.
In addition to thanking the World Bank and the Federal Government for the initiative, several of the beneficiaries pledged to preserve the facilities and equipment to guarantee food security in Enugu State and Nigeria generally.
According to a member of Divine Cooperative, Amechi Awkwunaw, Chinyere Iwundu, the initiative had given them more power and added value to their lives by allowing them to preserve their farm products and sell them at high prices.
