By Gbenga Akingbule.
Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum on Monday flagged off the distribution of crop production inputs for the 2024 rainy season in Nort East to fight food insecurity in the region that had suffered 15-year insurgency.
Gatekeepers News reports that the crop production inputs provided by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) are targeting subsistent and small-scale farmers, numbering 26,750 them in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Taraba States. About half of the beneficiaries are however from Borno State alone.
This was disclosed by Governor Zulum who was represented by the Ag Governor of Borno State, Umar Usman Kadafur, at the occasion held at Dusuman, Jere Local Government Area.
According to Kadafur, the initiative is a collaborative effort between the Borno State Government and the Food and Agricultural Organisation to help “our people, especially those recently relocated back to their ancestral homes, to restart a meaningful livelihood and improve their productive capabilities and general well- being
“The inputs being distributed today include assorted improved seeds of cereals, legumes, maize and vegetables as well as bags of wet-blended NK fertiliser,” Kadafur said.
The Ag. Governor commended the FAO for the strategic role its playing towards assisting victims of the insurgency and “in our collective efforts to bring about viable and sustainable peace and security in the State.”
Mr. Dominique Koffy Kouacou the FAO Representative and interim in Nigeria and to ECOWAS said at the occasion that his organisation has been implementing an extensive programme targeting IDPs, returnees and host communities in the three states most affected ( Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States ) by the conflict in the northeast.
“FAO’s emergency strategy aims to strengthen the food production capacity of farming and agro-pastoral communities in conflict-affected areas.
FAOs vision of zero hunger as highlighted by the SDG2 guides our intervention,” Kouacou said
The FAO representative revealed that ” out of the projected population, 4.84 million people are in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states which shows an increase in a number of people projected to experience high acute food insecurity compared to the 4.4 million reported during the October 2023 CH analysis.
“During that occasion, I committed to support the country to strengthen the resilience capacity of the affected population, mainly in the NE region.
“All the vulnerable populations require protection interventions in addition to food, livelihood, and nutrition assistance.”
