C’River ADP Disburses N83m To Farmers

The Agricultural Development Programne (ADP) in Cross River says it disbursed N83 million to farmers in the state under the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS).

The Programme Manager, Mr Bassey Otu, told newsmen in Calabar on Sunday that the money was provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Otu said that the money was disbursed to the beneficiaries through their cooperative societies.

“As at today, about N83 million has been disbursed to farmers in the state under the NPFS by the AfDB which funds the project.

“The fund is not handled by us; it is transferred directly to the farmers’ cooperatives to disburse same to their members according to their project needs,’’ he said.

Otu explained that the duty of the ADP was to ensure that funds given to farmers were used for the purposes they were meant.

The programme manager said that the funding of the programme was under a tripartite arrangement among the federal, state and local governments.

Under the arrangement, he said that the state would pay N42.4 million as counterpart funding, while the local councils would contribute N32.4 million annually.

According to him, Cross River has nine NPFS project sites, with three in each senatorial district.

He said that the current phase of the programme would end in 2013 and advised beneficiaries of the fund to make judicious use of it.

“ADP provides access roads, electricity, pipe-borne water and other amenities in the project areas to facilitate the movement of goods and services by the farmers,’’ the programme manager said.

“Consequently, there is marked improvement in the lives of the beneficiaries, as some of them now own personal cars, while some

have large farmlands.’’