Mbah Supports Construction, Equipping of Processing Centres in Enugu

Gideon Arinze in Enugu state

The Governor Peter Mbah-led administration in Enugu State has supported the completion and equipping of 15 aggregation and cottage processing centres across the state to boost agricultural production.

The 15 aggregations and processing Centers, spread across 11 locations in the three senatorial zones and according to the value chain belts of cashew, rice and poultry, were constructed by the Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project, a World Bank Assisted intervention in the agricultural sector in Enugu State.

Addressing newsmen at the end of a tour of the centres yesterday, the Secretary to the State Government, Chidiebere Onyia, said Mbah has demonstrated in his first 100 days in office that agriculture was pivotal to his goal of driving the agro-industrialisation of Enugu state and growing its GDP.
He said agriculture remains the fulcrum of the economic policies of the Mbah’s administration which informed his decision to give priority attention to the APPEALS Project with the provision of the counterpart funding which has fast-tracked the provision of machinery and tools for processing and aggregating as well as energy intervention.

“The facilities will enhance their productivity, improve value addition and open up vistas of market opportunities both locally and internationally for Enugu farmers, as well as add significantly to the economic growth of the state,” he said.
“It will also help to tackle massive unemployment and reduce poverty in the state because the people will not only plant but also process and export their products,” he added.

On her part, the acting state project coordinator of APPEALS, Ihuoma Eze, noted that most farmers in Enugu State had suffered from post-harvest loss due to inadequate bulk storage houses and the near-absence of processing facilities, hence the decision to provide common-user facilities to farm clusters to enable farmers in cashew, poultry and rice value chains to store their produce and process them up to international standards.

While calling on the communities to take ownership of the facilities and ensure that they are maintained, she thanked the state government for its support throughout the duration of the project.