United States African  Development Foundation Assists Local Farmers, SMEs With  $24 Million 

The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) has assisted local farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria with more than $24 Million financial grants.

This is addition to providing technical support supports for improving production, packaging and marketing of the products.

The Executive Director of Diamond Development Initiatives (DDI) which is the implementing partner for USADF projects in Nigeria, Mr Adamu Garba, made this disclosure while giving an insight into the programme at a Conference and Mini Agriculture Fair organised by the DDI to showcase some of the products  in Abuja.

He said: “USADF has invested over $24 million in these cooperatives societies over the years. They are still working in Nigeria and we look forward to getting more assistance from them.”

Further, Garba disclosed that over 450,000 people have benefited from the USADF projects in Africa from which 60 per cent are women, adding that about 70 per cent of USADF programmes in Nigeria is developing the agriculture value chain to create impact in improving the livelihood of the rural people.

He said: “They were funded by the United States African Development foundation. But the Diamond Development Initiatives  is an Organisation that is implementing the programme of the USADF. We mange this projects. So, we give them mentorship, we give them management as well as monitoring .

“We have been making concerted efforts at improving agriculture. We match our words with action and with these production  will increase.

“Part of the works we do include  showcasing these cooperative societies so that they can get additional funding/assistance from else where.

“Most of these goods that you see here, they are engaged in agricultural production but the assistance that we produce does not stop at production alone. We take it a step further to provide them with machines to enable them do some processing, add value to the products and get more income..

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr W. Stuart Symington said “In every part of the world, the goal of the private sector is to make profit. It is to produce something, a product or service that someone somewhere need to buy that they pay much more than it cost you to produce it. That’s the goal.

He further stressed the important of transforming whatever that is produced to add value to the products.

The Chairman, Board of Directors of USADF, Jack Leslie, expressed the commitment of the foundation in ensuring success in Nigeria saying  Your success frankly is our success. Your success is very important to the United States.

He stressed the importance of three “Ps”,  saying “one is partnership, we only succeed when we are in partnership;  the second “P” is participation, no one is going to tell you how to solve your problems but you know that. We are simply here to help you do that.

“The third “P” is the private sector. Long term success is built by the private sector and that is what you represent in Nigeria.”

Earlier, the President/CEO of USADF, C. D. Glin noted that in course of his career, he had been working in Kano, Lagos, cross rivers.

He said, “The United States African Development Foundation was established to invest in African ideas and solutions  to really bring a perfect prosperity to the under served communities. So, we have strong commitment to African.

“More importantly, Nigeria being the most populous nation in Africa, everything we do here is led by Nigerians, the work that we do here is to make opportunities and prosperity to really meet the needs and expectations of Nigerians.”