Business
Fadama III Commissioner Tasks LGAs On Counterpart Funding
The remaining eight local government areas among the 20 selected local government areas to participate in Fadama lll project in Rivers State have been given seven days to pay the N2 million counterpart fund or face the risk of being substituted with the willing and ready LGAs.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Agriculture, Emmanuel Chindah, gave the charge in a letter addressed to the affected eight local government council chairmen, with the reference number AD/COM/383/S.2/52. and made available to The Tide .
According to him, the third National Fadama Development Project is a Federal Government initiative to support the agricultural sector by giving grants to rural farmers, with a view to enhancing their productivity , increase incomes and alleviating poverty.
The project, he said, is supported by the World Bank and Rivers State Government to the tune of over $250 million and it is counterpart-fund-dependent, saying that the implementation of the project in the state was flagged off by Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on Thursday, December 10, 2009. Since then, farmers in the eight local governments have not benefited from the project due to non payment of the N2 million counter part fund to support their activities.
The affected LGAs include Abua/Odual, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Port Harcourt, Degema, Okrika, Ogu/Bolo, Tai and Andoni LGAs.
Commenting on the issue, the Rivers State Fadama Coordinator, Kingsley Amadi, told The Tide reporter, in his office at ADP Headquarter, Rumuodamanya in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, that apart from the N2 million counterpart fund, there are other eligibility criteria expected of the participating LGAs which include provision of two furnished office accommodation for two Desk Officers and Fair facilitators among others.
provision of two local government staff on secondment, one of which must be the HOD agric, and the other female (with a minimum of HND in Agriculture or any other field) as Local Fadama Desk Officer (LFDO) and constituting a local Fadama Development Committee (LFDC) in the area.
The fulfilment of the above eligibility criteria will enable a teaming number of families, cooperatives, communities etc from the respective local governments to benefit from the Fadama lll project of the federal government.