The Federal Government in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has constructed storage facilities for Logo and Guma Local Government Areas of Benue to tackle post-harvest losses.
Mr Emmanuel Igaukum, IFAD State Programme Coordinator (SPC) in Benue, disclosed this on Tuesday in Daudu, Guma Local Government Area of the state.
Igbaukum lamented that farmers in the state were grappling with post-harvest losses which was largely due to lack of storage facilities.
He said that it was on that basis that the Federal Government and IFAD co-financed the construction of the two storage centres.
The programme coordinator said that the facilities would go a long way to minimise post-harvest losses at least in the two local government areas.
He said that farmers in Guma Local Government Area produced 10,000 metric tonnes of rice annually with the support of Federal Government and IFAD.
Also, the IFAD Country Director to Nigeria, Mrs Dede Ekoue, called on the youths to embrace agriculture to enhance their income and become self-reliant.
Ekoue urged the farmers to embrace peace as a necessary tool to develop as well as make progress in their farming activities.
She also admonished farmers to always insure their crops against flooding to avoid losing their sweat when their farms might be washed away by flooding.
IFAD National Programme Coordinator (NPC), Dr Fatima Aliyu, assured that IFAD would continue to support farmers to enable them scale up food production.
Aliyu who was represented by the IFAD Knowledge Management Communications (KMC) Adviser, Mrs Vera Onyilo, urged the farmers to make maximum use of the storage facilities and maintain them adequately as well.
Mr Fidelis Chia, State Chairman, Commodity Alliance Forum (CAF), appreciated IFAD for linking farmers to markets.
He added that farmers no longer worried of where to sell their produce because IFAD had connected them with off-takers.
