Community-Based Agricultural and Rural Development Programme

Community-Based Agricultural and Rural Development Programme

This programme was launched in eight northern Nigerian states where poverty is widespread: Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara in the north-west, and Borno and Yobe in the north-east. It builds on IFAD's previous experience with implementing community-based projects in the northern states of Sokoto and Katsina, and its objective is to help the most vulnerable groups improve their incomes and living conditions.

The programme targets a large section of the rural population, especially women, landless people, nomadic pastoralists and small-scale farmers, and those with only marginal lands. It is designed to empower these groups to participate in development activities.

Specifically, the programme works to:

• Promote awareness and build the capacity of public and private-sector service providers to respond to the needs of poor rural women and men
• Empower poor communities to manage their own development and support vulnerable groups
• Improve agricultural practices, resolve conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, and intensify crop and livestock production
• Develop or upgrade safe water supplies, environmental sanitation, irrigation, and health and education facilities

Source: IFAD