Transforming Rural Livestock Enterprise in Northeast Nigeria (Mercy Corps’ RRA Program)
A one-year project that is funded by Mercy Corps, under the USAID RRA Project and implemented in Gombe and Adamawa state.
The Rural Resilience Activity is a Mercy Corps project that aims to protect economic recovery and growth in vulnerable, conflict-affected areas and sustainably move people out of vulnerability, and poverty through expanded opportunities in Agriculture and Agribusiness in the Northern-eastern Nigeria. The Activity interventions are delivered in line with the market system development framework placing at the center the need to unlock bottlenecks that weaken market relationships and limit inclusive profitable participation. The Activity seeks to improve the resilience capacities of conflict-affected households, communities, and market systems using market-led approaches layered with complementary investments in humanitarian assistance to contribute to economic recovery and growth. Ikore is working with Mercy Corps to drive market for the efficient delivery of animal production inputs – feed, veterinary inputs, and services, and the development of rural smallholder entrepreneurial livestock farmers through a business strategy aimed at developing the livestock market rural channels/infrastructure with direct impact on returns for key market actors and improved production, productivity, and livelihoods of livestock farmers. This is pursued within three broad objectives which are.
- Facilitate the distribution and sales of veterinary input through the engagement of 30 retailers with the establishment of store fronts for the last mile delivery and supply of feeds, kits, vaccines and other inputs for smallholder livestock farmers.
- Initiating business enterprise for 500 farmers in profitable livestock production through the provision of In-kind loan and technical support.
- Provide last mile animal healthcare and advisory services to farmers through a network of 50 Community Animal Health Workers.