World Bank has commended governor of Sokoto State, Ahmed Aliyu, for his disbursement of N1 billion counterpart fund to the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) projects.
The bank’s practice manager, Ms. Lia Sieghart, who made the commendation, said the state government collaborated with the Bretton Woods’ institution in the implementation of the ACReSAL Project.
At a stakeholders’ forum attended by all the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Sokoto, Sieghart acknowledged the state’s implementation and delivery of the project development objective (PDO).
ACReSAL is a project with very richly developed objectives that has integrated an approach to help build resilience, combat climate change impact, enhance livelihoods, increase food security while creating jobs for the youth.
Governor Ahmed Aliyu said over 800 men and women had been mobilised and trained on “Grievance Redress Mechanism, Business Management for the Community Interest Group (CIGs)”as part of the benefits of the project since 2022.
Another benefit of the project, he said, are the “ongoing establishment of 40km shelter-belt in Wurno local government area that serves to build defences against wind thereby forming breaks for farmlands and homesteads in nine communities of Wurno, thus increasing the yields of crops due to stoppage of crop destruction by winds.
The governor also cited the establishment of a 500-hectare forest enrichment plantation also in Wurno council, designed to improve the vegetation cover and alleviate sheet and rill erosion that threatens the fertile Fadama land in Wurno catchment as a feat of the project.
He said, “This work will ensure that the irrigation activities in Wurno and surrounding areas continue unhindered.”
The governor added that 7,000 hectares of agroforestry with moringa oleifera (Zogale) trees, aimed at improving the food security of beneficiary communities, covering 23 communities, comprising over 40,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries was also achieved.
He said moringa being a tree with high medicinal value in addition to food value is therefore a high value tree crop that farmers elsewhere can easily replicate.
Governor Aliyu also said ACReSAL project will restore 19,000,000 cubic meters of water in Lugu Dam and will rehabilitate 13,000 hectares of irrigated land in Wurno, a feat achieved by no other partner funded project in the history of the state.
Also, the Wurno irrigation scheme provides employment and means of livelihood to over 3,000 farmers in Sokoto State, this important infrastructure enables high value cash crops such as rice, onions, garlic, and vegetables to be produced all year round. The direct and indirect beneficiaries are 91,253 people.
The large-scale landscape restoration activities of the ACReSAL project will also bring succour to millions of Sokoto communities living in fringes of degraded forest in Dange/Shuni, Bodinga, Tureta, Kware, Tangaza, Binji, Yabo and Shagari councils, as it will restore 5000 hectares this cropping season.
The forum climaxed with visit and community engagement to all ACReSAL project sites in Wurno local government area of Sokoto State.
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