The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu, has inaugurated two committees to help boost agricultural development in the territory.

While inaugurating the committee, the minister thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the project partnership.

She said 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.

Ms Aliyu stated that the projects would bring about the promise of leaving behind a legacy that will chart an unhindered course for sustainable economic development in Nigeria.

She added that the first phase of these projects was the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL), which the World Bank facilitated.

Ms Aliyu said that it was aimed at helping the northern part of Nigeria and the FCT to address critical challenges of regional desertification control and landscape management. 

She said, “The projects align with the goal of 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.”

Ms Aliyu further stated that the implementation would take place in the six area councils of the FCT, particularly in the rural communities, and would cater for the farmers and farm groups, women and youths groups.

She said the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones programme (SAPZ) was co-financed by the African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).

According to her, it aims at mobilising private sector entities to develop value chains for selected strategic crops and livestock in the participating states.

Ms Aliyu also said that the programme would significantly drive the modernisation of the FCT agricultural sector and reduce food imports.

It will also 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.

She said the steering committees of the projects were the apex decision-making bodies for the operation of the projects in FCT.

According to Mr Aliyu, they are responsible for providing guidance and taking decisions on the recommendations forwarded by the State Technical Committee and StateProject Management Unit (SPMU).

The mandate secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Abubakar Ibrahim, said that several states across the federation had already keyed into the programmes.

Mr Ibrahim stated that the projects aimed at addressing environmental challenges and reinvigorating the livestock sector to enhance sustainable agricultural production and improved food and nutrition security.

Responding on behalf of the committee members, the FCTA permanent secretary, Olusade Adesola, noted that the implementation of the two projects could not have come at a better time than now when the capital city was in dire need of the implementation of innovative programmes.

(NAN)