NGO Empowers Communities, Fight Climate Change Through Oil Palm Plantations

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and the Association of Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN) have revealed plans to support more Nasarawa communities in restoring degraded lands and addressing other climate change challenges this year.

Mr Ango Adamu, executive secretary, YMCA Mada Hills, disclosed this during activities marking the World Environment Day in Lafia.

He said bodies, with support from Oxfam in Nigeria, would empower the people of degraded communities across five additional local government areas through oil palm seedlings.

According to him, the new local government areas the organisations will be intervening in include Wamba, Doma, Karu, Nasarawa and Keana.

Mr. Adamu revealed that a total of 13,500 improved oil palm seedlings from Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) will be transplanted by the communities as part of effort to fight climate change and restore degraded lands.

“Also, between June and July 2024, we shall be scaling up Community Nursery establishment in Wamba, Doma, Karu, Nasarawa and Keana LGAs for 2025 planting season respectively,” he added.

YMCA and ASSAPIN in partnership with Oxfam in Nigeria are implementing the African Activist for Climate Justice AACJ Project, with support from Dutch Ministry of External Affairs, Netherlands, in Nasarawa State in the last three years.

The project has been working to address climate changes in five local government areas of Akwanga, Lafia, Nasarawa Eggon, Kokona and Obi.

The planned expansion programme will bring the number of local government areas the project is intervening to 10.

In the earlier LGAs, the project had built capacity of stakeholders in the affected communities on tree planting and briquette production.