Minister of State Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, has inaugurated two committees to boost agricultural development.
The committees are the Steering and Inter-Agency Technical Committees of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL), and the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) projects in the FCT.
While inaugurating the committee, the minister expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the partnership on the projects which would go a long way in bringing about the avowed promise of leaving behind a legacy that will chart an unhindered course for sustainable economic development in Nigeria.
Aliyu noted that the first of these projects was the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) which was facilitated by the World Bank to help northern part of Nigeria and the FCT to address critical challenges of regional desertification control and landscape management.
She said: “Project aligns with the goal of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to set out broader landscape restoration of 4 million hectares of degraded land, and the promise of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.”
She further stated that the implementation would take place in the six area councils of the FCT; particularly in the rural communities, and would carter for the farmers and farm groups, the women and youth with their groups.
She noted that the concept of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones programme (SAPZ) which is co-financed by the African Development Bank (ADB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), aims at mobilising private sector entities to develop value chains for selected strategic crops and livestock in the participating states.
Aliyu said the programme would significantly drive the modernisation of the FCT agricultural sector, reduce food imports, enhance value addition in livestock value chain, staple food crops and create new economic zones of wealth and jobs creation in rural areas.
The minister added that the steering committee of the projects are the apex decision-making bodies for the operation of the projects in FCT and has the responsibilities of providing guidance and taking decisions on the recommendations forwarded by the State Technical Committee and State Project Management Unit (SPMU).
Also speaking at the inauguration, Mandate Secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Mallam Abubakar Ibrahim, stated that several states across the federation have already keyed into the programmes and today’s inauguration marks the official take-off of the programmes in the nation’s capital.
Ibrahim stressed that the projects aim at addressing environmental challenges as well as reinvigorating the livestock sector to enhance sustainable agricultural production and improved food and nutrition security.