The World Bank on Wednesday pledged to support Enugu State government in livestock farming.
The global bank, however, commended Governor Peter Mbah-led administration for his developmental strides in the areas of water and agriculture, noting that efforts at transforming the state would help in up-scaling its agricultural productivity.
The National Coordinator of Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES), a World Bank-assisted project, Sanusi Abubakar, made pledge during the Project Implementation Support Mission as well as a working visit to the governor at the Government House, Enugu.
In his address, Abubakar explained that the L-PRES is a six-year World Bank-assisted project under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security which seeks to improve productivity and commercialization of livestock value chains.
He added that they were in Enugu to lend support and complement the state government’s efforts around commercial livestock agriculture and value chain development in order to address “systemic weaknesses and challenges stifling the needed growth and full emancipation of the livestock sector in the state.”
While lauding governor Mbah for showing significant commitment in meeting the project onboarding criteria, he maintained that his administration’s giant strides in agriculture, provision of water and development projects would assist the L-PRES mission in the state.
“Your administration’s giant strides in agriculture and developmental projects cannot go unnoticed within the ecosystem of livestock stakeholders in Nigeria and beyond.
“We are fully aware of your strides in the provision of potable water through your administration’s water project which is a critical factor for sustainable livelihood and livestock production, construction of rural roads networks which is a critical success factor in value chain development and market linkage and investment commitment in agriculture,” he said.
Speaking, Governor Mbah, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Ifeanyi Ossai, extolled the team for the good work it was doing, while maintaining that the state government was mindful of playing its part in every partnership that would create value for the state and bring progress for the people of Enugu State.
Mbah further charged the team to assist the livestock farmers in the state to design their farms, prepare all bankable documents that would enable them access to finance, assuring that Enugu farmers are committed, strong, willing and genuine farmers who have the capacity to supply protein to other parts of the world.
“We want to work with you closely to ensure that whatever investment you make will be supported by the contribution we make in counterpart funding which will have a trackable value to our people. Enugu has moved agriculture from a subsistence activity to business, and we are looking at it as a business. Enugu is now rightly out for business and investment, we are disposed and ready more than most of the states to sustain that.
“We have an international airport, we can supply protein to other countries. I want us to work together to give value to this programme so that at the end of the day, we can look back and say we indeed made an impact on the people,” Mbah added.
