Press Release

JICA and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) signed the Minutes of Meeting for the Technical Cooperation Project on "Promotion of Market Oriented Agricultural Extension System for Livelihood Improvement" in Nigeria on 23rd May 2019.

The signing session was attended by Mr Nakamura Hirotaka (JICA Senior Representative, JICA HQ), Mr Matsunoshita Minoru (Assistant Director, Rural Development Department, JICA HQ) and Mrs Babangida Karima (Director Federal Department of Agriculture Extension, FMARD), amongst other officials.

The project is aimed at improving the quality of extension service provision for livelihood improvement of smallholder horticultural farmers in the implementing states utilising the Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment Promotion (SHEP) Approach.

SHEP is an approach, which realizes "Market-Oriented Agriculture" and converts farmers mind from "grow and sell" to "grow to sell". In Kenya, with this approach, the project achieved doubling income of 2,500 smallholders only within 2 years (2007-2009).

For more information about SHEP Approach, visit the following URL

• https://www.jica.go.jp/english/our_work/thematic_issues/agricultural/shep/index.html

The project duration is 4 years and to be implemented in 14 states selected across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

In her closing remarks, Mrs Babangida Karima expressed her gratitude towards the continued support of JICA towards the improvement of agriculture sector in the country. She assured JICA of FMARD's commitment towards ensuring the successful implementation and sustainability of the project.

The Record of Discussion is to be finalised and signed in July 2019 to commence the project in January 2020.

Signing of Minutes of Meeting by Mr Nakamura Hirotaka (JICA Senior Advisor) and Mrs Babangida Karima (Director, Federal Department of Agriculture Extension, FMARD)