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This was disclosed on Thursday by the World Bank Country Director for Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project ( RAAMP ), Tunji Ahmed during a courtesy visit to Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed at Government House in Ilorin.
According to Ahmed, the project is jointly sponsored by the World Bank, French Development Bank and Africa Development Bank, as part of effort to provide suitable road network for rural dwellers and farmers to convey their farm produce to the market and avoid losses arising from wastages during transportation.
In a statement issued by Abdulwahab Oba, Cheif Press Secretary to the governor, World Bank Country Director noted that twenty-five per cent of farm produce are lost as a result of lack of access to market occasioned by bad roads, adding that RAAMP would improve rural access, agricultural marketing and open up rural areas in the selected participating states.
Responding, the Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed identified lack of good road network as an impediment to the movement of farm produce to the market for final consumers, thereby leading to wastages.
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Governor Ahmed commended President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for diversifying the economy through unprecedented commitment to agriculture.
The governor added that the decision by the state government to present proposal for the World Bank’s Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project was to create connectivity in moving farm produce to the market, promising that the state government has made provision for counterpart fund to enable it access the facility.
SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin
