Ekiti State Government has intensified its drive to open up rural communities and reduce post-harvest losses for farmers, with over 160 kilometres of last-mile roads reconstructed or rehabilitated and 100 mini bridges/culverts completed under the FADAMA CARES Project.
Speaking on the development, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Ebenezer Boluwade, said the intervention was part of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s commitment to addressing one of the most pressing challenges facing rural farmers, lack of accessible roads.
“Road access is a critical rural infrastructure that must be created to accelerate the rural economy. Farmers suffer close to 50% post-harvest losses due to either a lack of good roads or the absence of culverts or mini bridges,” Boluwade explained.
According to him, the initiative complements the ongoing work of the World Bank-assisted Rural Access Agricultural Marketing Program (RAAMP), which is focusing on both state and local government roads to ease the movement of farm produce.
“With these projects, we are gradually connecting the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the food value chain,” he noted.
“You can see that the N50 billion investment in agriculture is money well spent. We will continue to push the data to educate the populace.”
