The programme aims to improve incomes and food security of poor rural households engaged in production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava on a sustainable basis.
VCDP works to enhance productivity and access to markets for rice and cassava smallholder farmers through a commodity value chain approach.
Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) is a six-year development initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) programme that focuses on supporting cassava and rice value chains for small farmers in the nine states...
Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) is a development initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Programme
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Home > Kogi
Kogi State, often called the “Confluence State,” is located in the North Central region of Nigeria. It’s known for the meeting point of the Niger and Benue rivers at its capital, Lokoja. The state is characterized by a diverse population, rich natural resources, and a history intertwined with Nigeria’s colonial past.
Key Features:
Participating LGAs
Dr Stella Adejoh
s.adejoh@vcdpnigeria.org
Dr. Stella Ojone Adejoh is a seasoned professional with extensive expertise in Agricultural Extension, Rural Sociology, and Gender Studies. With a Ph.D. in Agricultural Extension & Rural Sociology from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Kaduna State. Dr. Adejoh has a deep understanding of the intricate dynamics of agricultural food systems, value chains, climate change and gender issues.
Her career spans various roles with strong affinity for Research work, programme/project planning, implementation and management. Dr. Adejoh’s commitment to sustainable development is evident in her work with the IFAD/Value Chain Development Programme, where she focused on enhancing the livelihoods of farmers through rice and cassava value chains.
She brings a wealth of experience from her tenure as the Director General/Secretary of the Kogi State Bureau of Public Procurement, where she successfully reformed the public procurement system in the State occasioned by the creation of procurement cadre within the state civil service. Her contributions also extend to community service, as she actively engages with non-governmental organizations and initiatives promoting women’s empowerment and social development.
Dr. Adejoh’s research prowess is reflected in her numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals (Local and international), conference papers, and theses. She is a dedicated scholar with a passion for advancing gender-sensitive approaches in agriculture and rural development.
With a robust skill set that includes data analysis, project management, and effective communication, her responsibility as the Kogi State Programme IFAD/VCDP is yielding commendable achievements such as: Improved market participation of rural famers through the establishment of Commodity alliance forum with a total of 1,206 members; provision of high quality agricultural inputs/equipment such as improved and high yielding rice seeds/cassava cuttings, solar powered/petrol water pumps, tube wells etc to over 3,678 farmers with land coverage of 2,440hectares under rice and cassava cultivation. This has triggered significant increase in yield from 1.9mt/ha to 4.5mt/ha.
Dr. Adejoh is Life member of the Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria (AESON), member, Agricultural Society of Nigeria (ASN) and member, Agricultural Policy Research Network (APRNet). She is also a distinguished fellow, Institute of Organizational and Administrative Risk Management (IOARM). Beyond her career, she enjoys research, reading, networking, travel, and culinary exploration.
Office Address
N0 1. Solomon Ibrahim street, behind Shopping arcade
Lokongoma Phase 2, Lokoja, Kogi State.
Nigeria is predisposed to severe negative impacts from climate change due to its fragile economy, weak resilience and low adaptive capacity. Rural livelihoods significantly depend on the performance of climate sensitive natural resources, especially in the agricultural sector. Environmental degradation, extreme weather and long-term climate change that undermine the natural resource stock and productive landscapes pose important challenges to sustainable agriculture, livelihoods and food security. Future climate scenarios project a consistent temperature rise (about 0.02oC per year from 2000 until 2100) and increase in variability and occurrences of extreme events leading to possible dry spells, droughts, floods, recurrence of locust and pests and reductions in yield. Annual flooding from the Niger and Benue Rivers and local tributaries and resource conflicts have heightened loss on agricultural investments and soil fertility and human insecurity.
VCDP is stepping up environmental and climate change activities under a systematic strategy that includes mainstreaming options for green growth and climate-smart production and processing, improvement of resilience through deepening of insurance and “no regrets” options, and provision of appropriate climate information.
In Nigeria, a major constraint faced by women in the agricultural sector is lack of access to formal credit. This challenge is felt more acutely by women than men. According to a 2022 report by ActionAid, 77% of Nigerian women in the agri-food systems lack access to government credits like those in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other financial institutions. Activities in the agri-food systems and most informal sectors of the rural economy of developing nations including Nigeria require lots of capital which most women lack (World Bank, 2012). According to Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA)’s Access to financial services in Nigeria 2020 survey, women are more financially excluded than men – only 45 per cent of women use formal financial services, compared with 56 per cent of men. Access to formal credit becomes a huge challenge for these women as they cannot build/grow their businesses in line with their aspirations.
The overall goal of financial inclusion in VCDP is to ensure that farmers have sustainable access to financial services after exiting two times matching grant support for inputs and one-time matching grant support for equipment. More also, other value chain actors such as financial services, off-takers, insurance services were able to provide financial services directly or indirectly to them. The services include savings, credit, cashless credit with off-takers and insurance services. In order to achieve this, the programme developed a financial inclusion strategy which covers the following strategic areas:
Under financial literacy training, the major goal is to ensure that VCDP beneficiaries understand the concept of financial terminologies used by service providers and make informed decision about financial services. Under technical assistance support to financial institutions, the major objective is to ensure that the programme provides a structured demand-driven and result-oriented capacity building support to financial institutions which will enable them to provide sustainable financial services in terms of friendly financial products (savings and credits) to VCDP beneficiaries.
Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) is a six-year development initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) programme that focuses on supporting cassava and rice value chains for small farmers in the nine states…