FAO empowers 200,000 IDP farmers, says ‘time to act is now’

The Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations says it has empowered more than 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are farmers.

Nouron Macki, FAO acting country representative, who made this statement on Thursday at a press briefing in Maiduguri, said the program covers Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

Macki said no fewer than 50,160 farming households among IDPs in Borno were empowered under the “Restoring Agricultural Livelihood of IDPs, Returnees and Vulnerable Host Families in the North-East of Nigeria”.

“So far, about 174,000 had so far benefitted from our dry season intervention while about 146,000 had benefitted during the rainy season in Adamawa, Yobe and Maiduguri.

“Our implementing partners for this program include the Borno state government, National Program for Food Security(NPFS), World Food Program (WFP) and FADAMA 111.

“The programme was sponsored by the FOA, Government of Ireland, Government of Belgium and Government of Japan.”

He said the objective was to empower about 1.8 million farmers across states who had lost their means of livelihood.

In an earlier speech, José Graziano Da Silva, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, had said that agriculture cannot be an afterthought as 80 percent of the population depends on it.

“In Nigeria’s Borno state alone, the number of people facing crisis is expected to rise to 3.6 million by August, almost twice the level of a year earlier. Around northeast Nigeria, more than 5.2 million people will be in need of food assistance during the lean season. On top of that, 2.4 million people have fled their homes due to insecurity.

“Immediate livelihood support can ensure that critical hunger needs are met in the short-term. But this is only the initial step to reverse the current trend toward the depletion of livelihoods and consequent human suffering in affected areas.

“The time to act is now. Farmers need seeds in addition to food. The planting season there starts in less than one month. Agriculture cannot be an afterthought. More than 80 percent of people rely on farming, fishing and herding for their livelihoods.”