UNDP Provides Inputs for 400 Displaced Farmers in Nasarawa
To encourage farmers whose farmlands were destroyed during the various crisis in Nasarawa State to go back to their farms, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has provided inputs to 400 farmers, selected from the affected communities.
The development was disclosed by the UNDP Peace Building Desk Officer in the state, Mr Ibrahim Aliyu, during the distribution of the farm inputs in Lafia. According to Aliyu, the initiative was one of the components of the UNDP peacebuilding project in the state, adding that the programme was being funded by the Japanese government and implemented by the Nasarawa Agricultural Development Programme (NADP).
He explained that the scheme was aimed at capacity development, and would serve as a recovery measure to the affected farmers from the shocks associated with communal and herder/farmer conflicts in the state.
“The UNDP choose to teach them the skills they already know, rather than teaching them new skills they know nothing about.”
“Even though we have other implementing partners who are training people on different aspects of entrepreneurial skills, NADP as an implementing partner is focusing on agriculture, because that’s where it specialised.”
“We are looking at the sustainability of the programme. With this empowerment, we hope and believe that these beneficiaries will be self-sufficient,” he said.
Speaking at the event, the Special Adviser to Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State on NGOs and Development Partners, Hajiya Munira Abdullahi, said the programme was aimed at making the beneficiaries productive, adding that the state government would continue to create enabling environment for actors and implementing partners to enhance the living standard of the vulnerable.
“What is expected of you as beneficiaries, is to make judicious use of the items given to you to make yourself productive. Governor Sule made a solemn promise to make life better for every citizen, and that’s what he is doing,” she said.
The Programme Manager of NADP, Emmanuel Alanana, while commending UNDP and the government of Japan for the empowerment, said measures have been put in place to monitor the beneficiaries to ensure that the inputs are judiciously used.
Agro Nigeria
