[left]The Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP) as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on June 24, 2020. is the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Agriculture emergency food response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AFJP is a 12-month programme to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on smallholder farmers which has disrupted global food systems.

Through a CBN zero interest input loan to farmers via Agriculture Platform Partners, the plan aims to directly improve food and job security by producing c.10m tonnes of food (carbohydrates, animal protein, and edible oils); and creating 5-10m jobs by employing Nigerians along the value chain. The AFJP also aims to:

1. Create digital maps of c.2.4m farmers linked to their farms to appropriately organize the smallholder farmers;
2. Cultivate aggregated c.2.4m hectares of land of existing smallholder farmers as well as from utilization of abandoned state farm settlement and
river basin authority land; and
3. Construct about 300km of rural roads to link farming communities to markets.

The project is executed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; and the Project for Agricultural Coordination and Execution - FMARDPACE.

To support in the creation of farmer/farm digital maps, N-Power Agro Youth have been and deployed to enumerate smallholder farmers across the country, to support input loan distribution as part of the AFJP. Our Enumerators have done a commendable job since the exercise begun and we greatly appreciate their resilience and commitment in getting the smallholder farmers in their communities registered.

The exercise was initially planned for 10 days but has been extended for the purpose of creating an Agricultural Asset Database of farmers beyond the AFJP. The 1st Batch of payment was made to qualifying enumerators in July 2020 being 50% of the first 10 days of work done as agreed. However, due to the increased scope of the exercise, we have experienced a delay in making the 2nd batch of payment which required further approvals. Thankfully, this payment has finally being approved and all documentation are in place to commence payment this week starting 20th September 2020.

We regret every inconvenience this has caused our Enumerators and assure them that the payment will be made as stated above. We are aware that some enumerators have encountered challenges in executing the surveys and we have been available, responding to every call – day and night – ensuring that our enumerators are safe and well.

We received a report of a death of an enumerator in Bornu State and after a careful and thorough investigation, which included speaking to the deceased family members we confirmed that this individual was a farmer and not an enumerator. We can confirm that none of our enumerators were killed by Boko Haram neither have we received any report of Enumerators being raped. Whilst we encourage enumerators to report challenges faced to ensure proper handling, we implore them to also verify information that is shared. For complaints and concerns we remain reachable on info@fmardpace.ng and 09098111444.

FMARDPACE is fully committed to the successful execution of the Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP); and is excited to be working with the enumerators to transform the Nigerian agricultural landscape.

Dear Enumerators,

We are pleased to announce that the 2nd batch of payment was made yesterday 25th September 2020. Payment details are on our social media platforms. Feel free to send your feedback to social@fmardpace.ng.

Admin.