Minister Inaugurates 2 Committees To Boost Agriculture In FCT

In a bid to boost agricultural development in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the minister of state for the FCT, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, has inaugurated two committees.

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.

The minister while inaugurating the committee, 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 the northern part of Nigeria and the FCT to address critical challenges of regional desertification control and landscape management.

“Project aligns with the goal of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to set out broader landscape restoration of four million hectares of degraded land, and the promise of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030,” she said.

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She stressed that the implementation would take place in the six area councils of the FCT; particularly in the rural communities, and would cater to the farmers and farm groups, the women and youth.

The minister also noted that the concept of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones programme (SAPZ) which is co-financed by the African Development Bank, 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 the livestock value chain, and staple food crops, and create new economic zones of wealth and job creation in rural areas.

Also speaking at the inauguration, the mandate secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Mallam Abubakar Ibrahim, noted that several states across the federation have already keyed into the programmes, adding that the 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.

He, however, assured that because of the huge expectations on the projects, membership of the two committees was carefully drawn from relevant secretariat departments and agencies (SDAs) of the FCT administration.

Responding on behalf of the committee members, the FCTA permanent secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, noted that the implementation of these two projects in the FCT could not have come at a better time than now when the capital city is in dire need of the implementation of innovative programmes that can rapidly guarantee the attainment of food and nutrition security and improve the quality of lives of the growing population of the FCT.