1.2 Program Review ATASP-1

cassava, sorghum, cocoa and cotton; and achieve food security by increasing production of key food staples of rice, cassava, and sorghum by 20 million metric tons (rice, 2 million metric tons; cassava, 17 million metric tons; sorghum, 1 million metric tons) (FMARD, 2017).

In pursuance of ATA initiative, FGN introduced a number of import-substitution measures which include initiation of a policy mandating cassava flour inclusion in wheat flour, starting with a 10 percent cassava flour inclusion rate in 2012, to increase steadily to reach 40 percent by 2015; and increasing domestic rice production to make the country self-sufficient in rice production by 2015, when rice imports was to be banned. Also, attempts have been made to inculcate good agricultural practices (GAP) in the farmers by reaching out to them with required inputs of fertilizers and improved seeds. However, implementation has been spotty and all supporting infrastructure is grossly inadequate. Many farmers continue to state that the GON policies and efforts have had little or no impact on their production as Nigeria still remains a food deficit country and domestic agriculture remains underdeveloped (Ojong and Anam, 2018).

Nigeria is a country blessed with potentially good land and water resources required for sustainable agricultural development. It is a known fact that many government agricultural intervention development Programs in Nigeria have not had lasting impact on agricultural development and many have not yielded the expected results of sustained increase in food production (Amodu, et al., 2011). Agricultural production methods have remained undeveloped despite many years of efforts on technology generation and transfer in Nigeria. Rural financial supports are scarce and most rural finance policies implemented previously have impaired rather than assisted in improved agricultural production (IFPRI, 2012). However, in an attempt to alleviate poverty among rural Nigerians and also to increase the incomes and productivity of the rural inhabitants as an approach of meeting up with the millennium development goals (MDGs) of food sufficiency and poverty eradication, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the pooled African Development Bank came up with ATASP-1 Program to finance the development of ATASP-1 lands by introducing small-scale farmers and some infrastructure facilities (Schools, Clinics, Markets, Roads & Bridges and Irrigation Scheme) in states with ATASP-1 development potentials. This was the first phase of the program which will subsequently followed by the second phased called ATASP-II.

1.2 Program Review ATASP-1 The AfDB funded Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase-1 (ATASP-1) was initiated in Nigeria in 2015 and is currently being implemented in four Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZs). The states covered by the Zones are Anambra and Enugu (Adani/Omor Zone), Niger (Bida/Badegi Zone), Jigawa and Kano (Jigawa/Kano Zone), and Kebbi and Sokoto (Kebbi/Sokoto Zone). The Program is presently providing interventions in over 200 rural communities spreading across 33 LGAs in Seven States of Anambra, Enugu, Kano, Kebbi, Jigawa, Niger and Sokoto.