3.5m IDPs: NALDA Begins Restoration Project To Reintegrate Displaced Farmers

The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has rolled out a Restoration Project to reintegrate displaced farmers into agricultural activities.

The move aims to restore farmers’ livelihoods and bolster national food security as a significant portion of Nigeria’s farming population has been displaced due to insecurity, with over three million people unable to cultivate their land.

Speaking in Abuja, NALDA’s executive-secretary, Cornelius Adebayo, noted that instead of relying on short-term humanitarian aids, displaced farmers will be provided with land, inputs and training to resume productive farming activities.

“This initiative allows displaced farmers to produce food for their sustenance while contributing to national grain reserves, government can also purchase their produce for price control and food distribution, ensuring stability in the market,” he said.

The NALDA boss also outlined several transformative agricultural initiatives designed to improve food production, reduce unemployment and encourage private sector participation in agribusiness.

One of the key interventions under the strategy is the Renewed Hope Farm Settlement Project, inspired by the historic farm estates of the Western Region.

Adebayo noted that the clusters will bring together farmers in protected and well-equipped environments to address challenges such as farmer-herder conflicts, logistics, monitoring and security.

He further disclosed that the Authority has introduced trenching systems, a four-feet-deep barriers around farm clusters to enhance security and prevent unauthorised access and ensuring controlled input distribution and mechanisation access.

“In these clusters, we are digging protective trenches around farms, making it impossible for unwanted parties to invade, this improves security and ensures that government-provided inputs reach the intended beneficiaries,” he explained.

Acknowledging Nigeria’s reliance on fish imports, NALDA was also rolling out the Aqua Hope Project to promote aquaculture, particularly in riverine states like Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom.

The project, according to Adebayo, aims to reduce Nigeria’s annual fish import of over one million tons by establishing fish farming clusters with processing, packaging, and cold storage facilities.

“Through these clusters, we are not just increasing fish production but creating a network of entrepreneurs in fish farming,” he stated.

He encouraged participants to register as farming enterprises to formalise their businesses and contribute to national employment statistics.

To address seasonal price hikes and the inefficiencies of open-field vegetable cultivation, NALDA was promoting greenhouse farming.

Adebayo said that the agency was deploying high-tech greenhouse clusters in major consumption areas like Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt to ensure year-round production and reduce reliance on distant suppliers.

“In developed countries, you don’t depend on open-field vegetable farming for food security, we must adopt modern agricultural methods,” Adebayo explained.

One of the major hubs for this initiative is Shagamu, Ogun State, strategically positioned near a new cargo airport that will facilitate local and export trade potential for foreign exchange earnings.

“Developed countries do not rely solely on open-field vegetable farming. We must embrace greenhouse technology to increase yield per hectare and ensure year-round production,” Adebayo emphasised.

Additionally, NALDA was working with agencies like the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to distribute solar-powered irrigation pumps, reducing farmers’ dependence on expensive petrol-powered irrigation systems.

To ensure sustainability, Adebayo added that NALDA is prioritising economic-scale projects, focusing on farms no smaller than 500 hectares to maximize output and profitability.

He stated that the agency was also reviving and repurposing abandoned farm estates through strategic partnerships, allowing them to be managed by local communities and agribusiness investors.