Food Security: ACReSAL Supports 10,000 Nasarawa Farmers With Loans, Inputs

The World Bank-assisted Agro-Climatic Resilience Semi-Arid Landscape project states that the agricultural component, which supported 10,000 rural farmers during the 2025 farming season, significantly improved Nasarawa’s food security.

Elias Napoleon-Gyobe, Nasarawa’s ACReSAl project coordinator, said this to journalists on Tuesday in Lafia.

He stated that more than 10,000 rural farmers, primarily women, in the climate-impacted communities of Doma and Toto were provided with a revolving loan of $250,000 to adopt climate-smart agriculture practices in the two local government areas.

He stated that the fund provided by the Nasarawa government, under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Sule, for the 2025 farming season has boosted food production and significantly increased food security.

According to him, the funds were disbursed directly to the beneficiaries through the Community Revolving Fund Management Committee.

Mr Napoleon-Gyobe said Nasarawa, under the project, procured 25-horsepower tractors and distributed them across the 13 local government areas of the state to boost food production.

He said that the tractors were being managed by the local government implementation committee for sustainability and maintenance, at a subsidised rate to farmers.

Mr Napoleon-Gyobe said that the project also boosted irrigation in the catchment areas through drilling of solar boreholes and reticulation of more than 700 households in Doma and Toto LGAs with plastic tanks for rain harvesting.

Mr Napoleon-Gyobe said the project facilitated massive construction of storm waters and drainage within the corridors of Doma, Toto, and Lafia LGAs and paid compensation of N744 million for the Resettlement Action Plan for those whose houses were affected.

“When the World Bank gave us clearance to start our constructions, Gov. Sule graciously approved the sum of N744 million for compensation, and I want to tell you that we have so far paid about 99 per cent of that money,” he said.

He added that the project identified five forest reserves and had since commenced tree planting for the restoration of 50,000 hectares of degraded land in Nasarawa.

“The way people are cutting down trees in our forest reserve does not commensurate with what is being replaced in the forest, so ACReSAL is now making a deliberate effort to see that we restore the degraded land.

“We planted 6,866 hectares in Ohina forest reserve in Doma; 3,000 hectares in Atabula reserve in Obi; we are waiting for the rains to plant in Sherigia and Nintabi forests, and in the community land donated by Umaisha community in Toto LGA,” Mr Napoleon-Gyobe said.

ACReSAL is a World Bank-financed project designed to tackle the pressing issues of land degradation and climate change in the 19 northern states and Abuja.

(NAN)