Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo
In the meeting organized by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility.
Fresh impetus was added recently to the drive to enhance food security and ecosystem resilience in Nigeria through integrated landscape management, after a one-day of deliberations and fine-tuning by the participants at the Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC) meeting in Abuja.
In the meeting organized by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), attended by national partners, government officials and Non-Governmental Organisations as well as wide range of stakeholders, including the media and academia, reviewed the project document.
The participants also provided recommendation on the soundness of design and formulation, assesses its relevance, feasibility, potential sustainability, stakeholder / institutional arrangement and potential risk.
Consultant to the project and lecturer at the University of Lagos, Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo explained that the project will enhance the policy and institutional enabling environment for achieving improved food security and integrate sustainable, resilient and inclusive value-chain approaches.
According tio him, It would also scale up sustainable land and water management (SLWM) and climate- and water-smart agricultural (CSA/WaSA) practices that will ensure both environmental and social development benefits at farm and landscape level.
Similarly, the project will reduce gender disparities in agricultural production through women-specific economic empowerment schemes and scale up youth involvement in agriculture using IITA Youth Agripreneurs scheme and improve monitoring as well as assessment.
Among the key outputs are cultivating 350,000 hectares under improved land use and agro-ecosystem management practices; increased value addition and access to markets realized by beneficiary smallholder farmers and utilizing 35,000 hectares under intensive and diversified production for enhanced income and improved nutrition.
UNDP Team Leader, Environment and Sustainable Development, Muyiwa Odele explained that the objective of the project is to enhance productivity and promote sustainability and resilience of Nigeria’s agricultural production systems for improved national food security.
He pointed out that the essence of the meeting is to look for areas that need to be reviewed and enhanced to meet the project objectives such as incorporating emerging opportunities.
Mr. Osopade, Director, Department of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment stressed the need for stakeholders’ engagement for the preservation of the forest and reafforestation, especially with those destroying the ecosystem for personal gains.
He said the Federal Government has begun reafforestation projects with the assistance of the private sector in some states of the federation. Osopade stated that the government is mobilizing Nigerians to restore degraded environment.
Mr. Cyril, the focal point, Federal Ministry of Agriculture suggested that climate change resistant methods should be included in the programme.
