The World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have approved the construction of a veterinary hospital in Jambutu, Adamawa State.
The approval followed the state’s subscription to Nigeria’s $500 million World Bank livestock development loan for the diversification of the agricultural value chain in the state.
Other benefitting states are Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Kogi, Kwara, Niger and Oyo.
National Project Coordinator Livestock Productivity and Resilience Project (L-PRES), Sanusi Abubakar, who made the disclosure yesterday in Yola said the veterinary hospital would provide animal diagnosis, care, medication, breeding, research on nutrition, and product development of animals in the state.
The national project coordinator further stated that the National Coordinating Office (NCO) and representative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security had delivered 770,000 doses of Anthrax spore vaccine for the state, adding that the state is so far leading among the five benefitting states that had accessed the World Bank funds.
The facilitation of the approval was led by Senator Abubakar Kyari who also chairs the national L-PRES steering committee aimed to improve food security.
In her response, the deputy governor, Professor Kaletapwa Farauta reiterated government’s commitment to prompt payment of counterpart funds for the sustainability of the L-PRES project in the state.
Farauta assured that the government would continue to provide an enabling environment to unlock the agricultural value chain for its citizenry.
She added that livestock is vital to the state and the nation’s economy, poverty alleviation and employment and commended L-PRES for their interventions so far.
Lead, Task-Team, World Bank, Mr Maniel Sene stated that the project was smoothly implemented following payment of counterpart funding by the state.
According to him, the mission team would be visiting dairy farm clusters, abattoir, slaughter slabs, farmer field schools and the newly renovated L-PRESS office in the state.
Commissioner for Livestock, Mr Tijjani Maksha described livestock production as a roadmap to economic development of the state.