The International Fund for Agricultural Development has called for intensified efforts by governments and other stakeholders in scaling up water-related infrastructure for sustainable productivity, resilience, and climate adaptation.

Dede Ekoue, IFAD country director, made the call at the federal government/IFAD Second Annual Review of the Country Strategic Opportunities Programme 2024 to 2029 on Friday in Abuja.

Ms Ekoue said that COSOP, which was adopted by the Federal Government, development partners, and other stakeholders in 2024, aimed to improve food and nutrition security while addressing the underlying drivers of fragility. She said it was also meant to promote inclusive, resilient growth in Nigeria’s rural economy through a market-driven transformation of the agrifood system.

Ms Ekoue, who said that water infrastructure remained critical to productivity, resilience, and climate adaptation, identified its paucity as a major impediment towards achieving the 2024 to 2029 COSOP targets.

Ms Ekoue said that Nigeria’s agrifood was constrained by low productivity among smallholders, weak integration of smallholders into value chains, and food insecurity and malnutrition. Other challenges, according to her, include persistent rural poverty, high dependence on food imports, and multidimensional fragility, such as conflict, climate change, and environmental degradation.

Ms Ekoue said that the review provided a timely opportunity to assess progress toward the targets collectively set by stakeholders for 2029.

“COSOP was developed following extensive consultations under the leadership and coordination of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance and key national and development partners.

“The meeting is to examine the continued relevance of COSOP, assess the progress achieved over the past two years, and identify areas where further improvements and strategic adjustments are required.

“This reflective process will enable us to leverage emerging opportunities and ensure a steady and accelerated pace toward achieving our shared objectives. The portfolio is demonstrating strong overall progress toward achieving the 2029 COSOP targets,” she said.

The country director outlined one of COSOP’s achievements as sustained support for rural producers’ organisations and their members. She emphasised that the achievement has strengthened collective action and market participation.

Ms Ekoue said the annual review of COSOP would help to identify ways to enhance these results in 2026.

“We commend the federal government of Nigeria for its strong focus on modernising the agrifood sector through digitalisation, including the significant progress made towards establishing the National Digital Farmer Registry. These efforts are critical enablers for inclusive service delivery, transparency, and scale,” she said.

(NAN)