By Faridat Salifu
Rural employment generation and agro-processing expansion took centre stage in Nasarawa State as the Federal Government rolled out large-scale processing and post-harvest equipment to farmer groups and agribusiness clusters under the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP).
The intervention was flagged off recently in Lafia during a two-day working visit by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, who said the equipment distribution is designed to shift farming communities from subsistence production to market-oriented agribusiness.
The programme targets value addition, agro-processing and enterprise development, with a focus on reducing post-harvest losses and strengthening rural livelihoods through structured market participation.
Senator Kyari said the initiative is part of a broader strategy to reposition agriculture as a commercial sector capable of delivering jobs, stable incomes and food security, noting that agribusiness growth is central to Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda.
He explained that the programme, implemented in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), is addressing long-standing gaps in the rice and cassava value chains through investments in production systems, processing infrastructure, market access and institutional capacity.
The minister described Nasarawa as an emerging agribusiness hub, citing the Nasarawa Agro-Commodity Company (NASACCO) and the One-Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) as platforms attracting investment and strengthening the state’s agricultural economy.
He said the federal-state collaboration has already produced visible outcomes, including functional aggregation centres, modern processing facilities and organised producer groups that are linking farmers to markets and stabilising rural incomes.
Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, said the state’s agricultural programmes are aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with a focus on wealth creation, youth and women inclusion, increased production and revenue generation.
The National Programme Coordinator of the FGN/IFAD Value Chain Development Programme, Dr Fatima Aliyu, said the initiative is structured to move smallholder farmers into profitable value chains by strengthening productivity, agro-processing capacity and access to markets.
She said the programme is designed to transform rural economies by creating employment, improving incomes and supporting food security through value chain-based development.
Farmer groups and cooperatives welcomed the intervention, pledging to maintain the facilities and use the equipment to improve production, packaging and distribution across local and regional markets.
As part of the visit, the minister also commissioned several VCDP facilities in Lafia, including rice processing and innovation centres and cassava processing hubs, expanding agro-processing infrastructure across the state.
The equipment distributed included tricycles, rice parboiling machines, rice milling and destoning machines, colour sorting machines, dehusking machines, digital weighing scales, cassava grating machines, manual fryers, automated framers and hydraulic pressers, aimed at strengthening processing capacity and rural logistics.
The initiative is expected to deepen agribusiness development in Nasarawa State, strengthen value chains, and position rural communities as active players in Nigeria’s evolving agricultural economy.
