Evaluation of National Fadama III Development Project

Agriculture is the bedrock for combating poverty and developing rural areas. This motivated government policies on agriculture. This paper evaluated the performance of Fadama III in addressing food productivity and rural development in Rivers State. A critical review of secondary materials from Rivers State National Fadama III Development Programme Coordinating Office Report on implementation of National Fadama III projects in Rivers State formed the methodology for the study. It revealed the concept, approaches and implementation process of economic interest groups and government financial commitments to various farming activities in the local government areas. There were remarkable improvements in rural development in the participated local government areas. The assessment further revealed committed efforts by officers and management of the program which ensured effective implementation of rural infrastructure in participated communities. It is recommended that expenditure control measures adopted by the management of fadama program in Rivers State should be applied in future agricultural projects to ensure quality deliverables. The government should pursue only rural development-oriented agricultural policies, and finance projects that have certified Local Development Plans. Seemingly bottleneck criterion that would delay the release of funds should be relaxed for agricultural program managers to be proactive to beneficiaries’ requests and function effectively. Finally, the fadama program should be extended to increase communities’ dual opportunities of experiencing both agricultural and rural development.