The Federal Capital Territory Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (FCT-ACReSAL) Project Implementation Unit has distributed 10 tractors and 140 power-tillers to Community Interest Groups in Abuja.

Under the ACReSAL project, three utility vehicles, improved seeds, fertilisers, insecticides, and other agrochemicals were Also distributed.

This is in addition to the inauguration of one of the eight solar-powered boreholes at Sheda Cassava Women Processing Centre, Kwali, under the project’s livelihood support initiative.

Mariya Mahmoud, FCT Minister of State, explained during the weekly distribution exercise in Kwali that ACReSAL was a World Bank-supported project.

Ms Mahmoud reiterated FCT’s commitment to ACReSAL’s goals of reclaiming degraded lands and improving communities’ livelihoods through best agricultural practices.

She said the project was designed to enhance community resilience against climate change and the livelihoods of communities in the 19 northern states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory.

She noted that FCT had been grappling with the devastating consequences of large-scale land degradation for 48 years. Rapid infrastructural development has resulted in the substantial loss of its precious tree cover.

She expressed optimism that the ACReSAL project, with its bold and ambitious land restoration initiatives, targets the reclamation of over 10,000 hectares of degraded land in the territory.

The minister further noted that the agricultural sector, the mainstay of the nation’s economy, has been the most severely affected by climate change’s devastating impacts.

According to her, the situation negatively impacts national food security and jeopardises the livelihoods of millions of people, exacerbating poverty and vulnerability.

She said that the distribution of the inputs was a strategic response to one of the most pressing challenges farmers face. She identified the challenges as including a lack of access to critical agricultural inputs and limited knowledge of sustainable landscape management practices.

She called on the area council chairs, who chair the Local Government Implementation Committee of the ACReSAL project, to monitor the community’s use of tractors and other machines to achieve the desired objectives.

Lawan Geidam, mandate secretary of the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, said the ACReSAL project implementation unit has put in place the necessary structures for the project’s smooth implementation.

(NAN)