By Ibrahim Mohammed
Kogi State Government says the Agro-processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) project (APPEALS) has recorded more successes and achievements than any other project implemented in the state.
The Deputy Governor of the State and Chairman, State Steering Committee of the APPEALS Project, Chief Edward David Onoja made the remarks while declaring open the 7th Pre- Implementation Support Mission being led by the National Coordination of the project.
Chief Onoja said that the state government is happy with the project in improving the livelihoods of beneficiaries across the state and assured that the government would continue to support its implementation.
The Project Operations Manager and Team Lead to Kogi state, Dr. Salisu Garba said that the overall objective of the mission is to review project implementation progress across all project components to ensure that project is on track to achieve its objective.
He said the mission will provide implementation support to the project teams in all areas of critical concern and agree with States on the required actions and activities that would further facilitate the achievement of the project development objectives.
In her remarks, the Commissioner of Women Affair Hajia Fatima Kabir Buba said the APPEALS project in the state has transformed women into agricultural entrepreneurs and assured that the women farmers would make the project a success.
In their remarks, State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. David Apeh, and the Managing Director, Kogi State Agricultural Development Project, Malam Bello O. George said the project implementation in the state has recorded a huge success, especially the empowerment of women and youth across the state.
The Pre-Mission which commenced simultaneously on Monday with three teams in Cross River, Kano and Kogi will be replicated across the other three participating states of Enugu, Kaduna and Lagos in the days ahead.
The overall objective of the mission is to review project implementation progress across all project components to ensure that the project is on track, as well as to provide implementation support to the project teams in all areas of critical concern and agree with States on the required actions and activities that would further facilitate the achievement of the Project Development Objective.
The Pre-Mission exercise is featuring report presentations, technical sessions and field visits to farming clusters across the priority value chains in each participating state.
