Value Chain Development Programme (IFAD-VCDP)

The Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) focuses on supporting cassava and rice value chains for small farmers in the six states of Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba while also addressing the constraints along the value chains. With an estimated 70% of the total population of Nigeria living in rural areas, agriculture is a mainstay of economic activity. The livelihood of smallholder farmers has been constrained by a host of challenges: low productivity; paucity of opportunities for value addition; environmental degradation; limited access to productive assets and inputs; inadequate support services; limited access to rural financial services; inadequate market and rural infrastructure; post-harvest losses and a constrained enabling environment. To address these challenges, the VCDP aims to enhance productivity increases, promotion of agro-processing, access to markets and opportunities to facilitate improved engagement of the private sector, and farmers’ organisations themselves, in the development effort.