ACReSAL Trains Nasarawa Communities On Irrigation Farming

Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes ACReSal has trained residents of areas affected by erosion on irrigation activities in Nasarawa State.

Declaring the training open, Nasarawa State Project Coordinator of ACReSAL, Napoleon Gyobe, said the training was part of the resettlement action plan for the project affected persons across three local government areas affected by erosion in the state.

The coordinator who said the affected local government include Doma, Lafia and Toto explained that people residing in the communities would be trained in three different profitable activities.

He said, “In 2022 when the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) started operations, the purpose was to tackle issues that had to do erosion where the water would just be discharged at the downstream but the ACReSAL Project is saying no, that the water harvested would be used for irrigation activities which is also part of the climate activities. So we’ve been able to delineate our catchment areas into three. The upper, middle and lower catchment areas”.

Napoleon said different activities would be carried out in the three different catchment areas.

He said already Governor Abdullahi Sule had approved compensation for people in the affected areas under the ACReSAL Project for the Resettlement Action Plan and bank cheques would be distributed to the trainee at the training for funds collection.

The permanent secretary in the state Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources represented by a director from the ministry, Musa Aboki, said the training session was pivotal as it was commitment to ensure that the voices of affected persons were heard, respected and integrated into the resettlement process.

He commended ACReSAL for demonstrating  commitment to the welfare of the people and described its activities as critical initiatives aimed at enhancing state resilience against environmental challenges and ensuring sustainable practice that benefit people and ecosystem.