FG, IFAD to Transform 450,000 Rural Households by 2029

The federal government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have pledged to transform the livelihoods of 450,000 rural households by 2029.

They made the pledge on the sidelines of the second Annual Results Review Workshop of the Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP) 2024 to 2029 on Saturday in Abuja.

The federal government/IFAD COSOP, adopted in 2024, aims to promote inclusive and resilient growth of the rural economy through market-driven agrifood system transformation for food and nutrition security.

Its strategic objective is to sustainably increase rural people’s productive capacities, strengthening organisational and policy frameworks for inclusive, nutrition-sensitive, and resilient agricultural value chains.

Dede Ekoue, IFAD country director, identified the review as a strategic moment for Nigeria and its partners to take stock of two years of COSOP implementation and realign strategies toward achieving the programme’s 2029 targets.

Ms Ekoue emphasised that the review would yield actionable recommendations to strengthen implementation through 2026 and ensure the programme reaches at least 450,000 rural households by 2029.

“The 2025 review provides an opportunity to assess relevance, measure progress, and introduce strategic adjustments where necessary.

“Early implementation results have been encouraging, with overachievement recorded in areas such as the development of processing and storage facilities, strengthened rural producers’ organisations, and improved access to finance, among others,” she said.

Ms Ekoue emphasised that the complexity of challenges in the agrifood sector required coordinated action by government institutions, the private sector, development partners, and farmer organisations.

She further noted that the diversity of participants at the review reflected the inclusive design of the COSOP and aligned with Nigeria’s renewed push for digitalisation and youth engagement in agriculture.

Ms Ekoue identified progress on the National Digital Farmer Registry and ongoing policy dialogues on youth inclusion as key milestones.
The country director called for increased funding to fully unlock Nigeria’s vast agrifood potential.

Munet Sadiku, assistant director of the International Economic Relations (IER) Department at the Federal Ministry of Finance, emphasised that COSOP had continued to serve as a vital framework for driving rural transformation and strengthening food security.
Ms Munet said it had also ensured improvement in the livelihoods of smallholder farmers nationwide.

According to her, the ministry is keen to see greater integration of digital tools in financial reporting, monitoring, and project administration to enhance efficiency and support data-driven decision-making.

Adebola Iruromi, director of the Federal Department of Development Partners Projects (DPP) in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, identified the review as a critical moment to reflect on collective progress.

Ms Iruromi said that it was also to identify gaps and strengthen pathways that would shape Nigeria’s agrifood transformation agenda.

“As we review the COSOP, it is important to identify and scale the proven models that have delivered impact across projects and states.

“Scaling successful interventions is essential to achieving national targets under the National Food Systems Transformation Pathways,” she stated.

Ms Iruromi listed some of the challenges facing the sector as rising inflation, insecurity, climate shocks, limited extension services, and uneven implementation across states.

She stressed that stronger coordination, enhanced monitoring and evaluation, wider deployment of digital tools, and deeper sub-national accountability are required to address the sector challenges.
Raymond Enoch, national coordinator of the National Committee for Family Farming in Nigeria, expressed the committee’s support for the COSOP framework.
Mr Enoch commended the recent launch of the National Digital Farmers Registry by IFAD and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
(NAN)