Birnin Kebbi — The International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) has executed 1,000 projects in Kebbi State between 2003 and 2007.

The state programme officer of the project, Dr. Usman Umar Dakingari, disclosed this to newsmen yesterday while speaking on the activities of the agency. He said the projects were executed in 32 villages in nine local government areas of the state.

Dr. Usman Dakingari said the major parts of the projects were capacity building, community-based projects and providing training to participating communities.

He said the agency grouped its activities into different aspects which included gender and vulnerable groups, sustainable agriculture, and encouraging communities to save and develop record-keeping.

Others he said were skills acquisition on carpentry, welding, tailoring, knitting, auto mechanic and vulcanizing. He said the beneficiaries were non-governmental organizations, skills acquisition centres, prisons inmates and children of the school for the handicapped.

Some beneficiaries of the projects were provided with computers, textbooks and first aid kits, Dr. Dakingari said.

He also said community members were assisted to obtain soft loans from financial institutions.

On the agricultural sector, the programme officer said some farmers were provided with improved seeds and trained on application of chemicals, fertilizer and non-artificial manure.

He stated that some degraded farmlands were revived at Gwandu, Maruda and Augie towns, adding that all the agricultural projects embarked upon by IFAD, including research and training, which was in collaboration with the Institute for Agricultural Research, A.B.U Zaria, would wind up in 2010.