The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations said it is targeting to reach 296,800 vulnerable individuals in parts of northern Nigeria with agricultural seeds and fertilizers for the 2022 rainy-season farming.
It said the inputs will help households mitigate the escalating food insecurity while contributing to build the resilience of communities.
With funding support from the governments of Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland as well as the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the programme is aimed at addressing the concern over impending food insecurity in Nigeria due to conflict that affect the agricultural production capacity of smallholders farmers.
In a statement by the FAO Nigeria communication specialist, David KarlsTsokar, the organisation said this year’s intervention was officially launched simultaneously on July 14, 2022 in Borno, Adamawa, Sokoto, Taraba, Borno and Yobe states.
According to the Head of FAO Northeast Sub-office, Alhassan Cisse who was represented by Tofiq Braimah, the support of FAO to the affected population is hinged on the desire to get them back to sustainable food production for self-sustenance and livelihood restoration. Thus, the provision of quality rainy-season inputs would improve productivity of the farmers, contribute to enhance resilience, food security and nutrition.
“The rainy season intervention targets 42,400 households across Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Sokoto and Taraba states. The inputs distributed will help households mitigate the escalating food insecurity while at the same time contribute to building the resilience of host communities and returnees”, he said.
