The Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) is a Programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that assists rice and cassava smallholder farmers through a value chain approach to enhance productivity, promote agro-processing and increased access to markets. The Programme aims to transform the agricultural sector of rural Nigeria by achieving food security, increasing incomes and creating new employment opportunities. VCDP was originally implemented in six states of Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Ogun, Niger and Taraba. As a result of the programme success, VCDP received additional finance for expansion into three states of Kogi, Nasarawa and Enugu making a total of 9 participating states.

With an estimated 70% of the total population of Nigeria living in rural areas, agriculture is a mainstay of economic activity. Also, about 70% of the total farming population is composed of smallholder farmers, cultivating less than 5 ha and producing up to 90% of the total national output. Poverty remains largely a rural phenomenon, with two-thirds of the rural population considered poor. 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 (extension and research); limited access to rural financial services; inadequate market and rural infrastructure (including water supply); post-harvest losses and a constrained enabling environment.

To address these challenges, the Government of Nigeria and IFAD contrived the VCDP, adopting the value chain approach, 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.