Accolades for Nasarawa farmer over rice production
By Faith AM
Dr. Eunice Adigidzi, Nasarawa State Programme Manager of the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), says they were excited with Mr. Okolo Jonathan, a beneficiary of the programme who scaled up rice production to 54 hectares of land.
She stated this when she led a team of supervisors to the beneficiary’s rice farm in the Tunga community of Awe Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
Adigidzi explained that the beneficiary, alongside 14 others, were trained by VCDP on rice seedling production in 2021 and were given start-up packs to cultivate one hectare of land.
Dr. Eunice added that they are proud of the beneficiary who had scaled up from one hectare in 2021 to 54 hectares in 2024.
“As an entrepreneur, he utilised the little support he had gotten from us to become a mechanised rice farmer.
“I am also excited because he is using a combined harvesting machine in harvesting his rice due to the size of the farm.
“From a beneficiary, he has now become a service provider, due to his passion for what he does.”He is now supplying rice seedlings to us and we use them to provide to other farmers,” she added.
The Programme Manager further said that with the performance of the farmer and others who had scaled up to three hectares, their target of increasing food security and reducing poverty would be achieved.
On his part, Okolo Jonathan appreciated VCDP and attributed the feat he has achieved to the training and support they gave him.
He explained that he started with one hectare in 2022, increased to five hectares in 2023 and then to 54 hectares.
“I am not yet where I want to be, but trusting God I will continue to improve until I achieve my target.Okolo also said that using the combined harvesting machine has reduced post-harvest loss by 80 per cent.