YOLA – Local farmers in Mayo-Lamja village in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State have commended the World Bank and the French Development Agency for the rehabilitation of feeder road in the area.
Mrs. Dorothy Coleman, the leader of Mayo-Lamja Women Farmers Cooperative Association, gave the commendation in an interview with newsmen at Mayo-Lamja
The World Bank and the French Development Agency have offered $243 million in grants for the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of rural feeder roads in four Nigerian states.
The four participating states under the agreement are Adamawa, Enugu, Niger and Osun, which are expected to pay three per cent of the total project costs as counterpart funding.
According to Coleman, the rehabilitation of the roads which are twenty kilometres off the Mayo-Belwa – Jalingo highway, has eased the farmers plight in transporting their farm produce to the urban markets.
“Before the rehabilitation of the roads, the mode of transporting our farm produce was a big challenge.
“But now, we find it much easier to transport our goods and even to interact with farmers in other parts of the state because of the reduction in costs of transportation by fifty per cent.” Coleman said.
She called on the Federal and State Governments to extend the rehabilitation project to link with Tola, up to Jada town, the headquarters of Jada Local Government Area.
Coleman explained that the major farm crops in the area include maize, yam, rice and groundnuts.
She added cattle, vegetables and mangoes.
Similarly, Mr Denis Chinda, the Chairman, Adamawa Project Monitoring Committee of RAMP-2, the supervisor of the project, confirmed that a total of N91 million was spent on the rehabilitation of the roads.
“Under the scheme, 500 kilometres of rural roads would be constructed in the state.” Chinda said.
He added that under the project, 10 people were recruited for the rehabilitation of the roads and were on a monthly salary of N20, 000.
