The Government of Enugu State says it has constructed 15 aggregation and processing centers for improved production of cashew, rice and poultry products in the state.
Mrs. Ihuoma Eze, the Acting State Project Coordinator of the World Bank-assisted Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project disclosed this on Thursday in Enugu, During a media tour of the Nara rice and cashew aggregation and processing centers at Aguobu-Owa, Eze said that the projects were sponsored by the World Bank-assisted APPEALS project.
She added that the state government had also equipped the centers with agro-processing equipment and energy intervention for power supply to assist the rural farmers.
She said the centers were spread across 11 locations in the state’s three senatorial zones in accordance with their value chain belts.
The project coordinator noted that the APPEALS Project had also installed equipment and energy in nine locations connecting farm clusters and common-user facilities to the national grid with 500kva/0.415 facilities.
She explained that the feat was also made possible by Gov. Peter Mbah’s massive support, adding that the development would help to further increase cashew, rice and poultry outputs in the state.
“Farmers in the state suffer post-harvest losses due to inadequate bulk storage houses and near-absence of processing facilities.
“To reduce the losses, the APPEALS project in Enugu provided common-user facilities to farm clusters where farmers in cashew, poultry and rice value chains can store their produce and process them up to international standard.
“This will enhance their productivity, improve value addition and open vistas of market opportunities both locally and internationally,” she stressed.
Consequently, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, while speaking to Journalists, commended the APPEALS team in Enugu for their dedication.
He emphasized that setting up the agro-centres was in line with the governor’s vision for agriculture in the state.
