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 of Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba, Kogi, Enugu and Nasarawa. Within each state, the programme is being implemented in eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) selected on the basis of objective criteria.
Target Group
Poor rural households engaged in the cassava and rice value chains serve as the primary target group, including smallholder farmers cultivating up to five hectares of land, small-scale processors and traders. The entry point is through organized groups of producers and processors, with particular attention to both women and youth groups. To ensure that programme interventions is demand-driven and respond effectively to needs, an institutional mapping of these organisations, particularly farmers’ organizations, has been carried out to determine their maturity levels, needs and scope of activities in order to effectively strengthen them. Through the Additional Financing 2019, VCDP’s target will increase to 135,000 direct beneficiaries by 2023 comprising of 69,000 men (51%) and 66,000 women (49%), a minimum of 150 people with disabilities will be strategically targeted. The breakdown is (121,000 smallholder farmers; 14,000 processors/ marketers.