ACRESAL Launches Farmer Profiling for World Bank Intervention in Kogi State*

In a bid to boost agricultural productivity and food security in Kogi State, the consulting firm for ACRESAL, a World Bank-supported project, has commenced the profiling and accreditation of farmers across the state’s 21 local government areas.

Ayejito Oluwaseun, a Development Economic Expert with Pure3 Awesomeness, explained that their responsibility is to profile and accredit farmers for the ACRESAL intervention. “We have deployed 84 accreditation agents across the state to capture farmers’ data and profiles,” he said.

To ensure the accuracy of the data, Ayejito revealed that their field agents will visit the farmers and conduct geotagging to validate their farming activities. “Our agents are also farmers who have been recommended by stakeholders, so they understand the needs of the farmers,” he added.

Ogu Danie, Community Development Expert for Pure3 Awesomeness, emphasized the importance of profiling farmers to determine the areas of intervention. “We need to know how many farmers we have and the size of their farms to identify areas where support is needed,” he said.

Ibrahim Danie Arome, Chairman of Rehab Cluster in phase 2 Lokoja, highlighted the significance of the ACRESAL intervention. “We want to produce what we consume, and ACRESAL will provide support to farmers in different scales,” he said. “There will be a revolving loan for farmers, and after the profiling, ACRESAL will provide inputs and financial support to the farmers.”

Arome emphasized that the ultimate goal is to increase the country’s GDP, make Nigeria a producer rather than a consumer, and enhance food security. “We expect that after this support, many small-scale farmers will be producing on a large scale,” he said.

The profiling exercise is being conducted in three phases: registration, farm visitation, and geotagging. After the profiling, ACRESAL will conduct another level of screening and interviews before providing support to the farmers.