The Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, RAAMP has been described as an appropriate and very effective means of realizing food sufficiency and security across the country.
The National Coordinator of RAAMP, Engr Aminu Bodinga Mohammed made the assertion recently during the 7th Joint World Bank and French Development Agency Implementation Support Mission of RAAMP at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, pointing out that most urban centers derive their supply of food from farms, which are located at the rural communities.
His words: “The primary objective of RAAMP is to improve rural roads and trading infrastructure through to boost food production. Therefore the successful implementation of this project could go a long way towards guaranteeing food sufficiency and security across the country,” as he sued for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to ensure an all-round success of the project.
Aminu noted that the mission was to evaluate the current implementation status, milestones as well as challenges faced by the 19 states participating in the project and announced that arrangements had reached an advanced stage for the commencement of civil works on agro-logistics centers (ALCs) latest by September 2024 with 23 major contracts that would be awarded across the states.
ALCs refer to market hubs that have been prioritized for transformation to ultra-modern standards at various locations across the country, notably in rural communities to empower and enhance the livelihoods of the people.
Also speaking, the Task Team Leader of the World Bank, Mr. Rakeesh Tripathi hinted that a scale-up was being mooted for the project but emphasized that only states that must have established and operationalized the Rural Access Road Agency (RARA) and State Road Fund (SRF), backed up with the required standing on counterpart funds would be eligible to access the scale-up funds.
He therefore advised all states to take advantage of the mission and get the needed support to tackle every challenge facing their State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU), adding that all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory would be encouraged to embrace the scale-up project.
The points of the exercise were presentations by the State Project Coordinators of the respective participating states, question and answer sessions, comments, and observations, among other inputs by the stakeholders.
The Task Team Leader of the French Development Agency, AFD; Consultants from the World Bank; the Federal Project Management Unit, FPMU as well as State Project Implementation Units, SPIUs of RAAMP also attended the mission.