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AGRA Partner With Gov’t To Mitigate Climate Change, Boost Food Security
By Israel Bulus, Kaduna
AGRA says it is partnering with State and Federal Governments to mitigate the impact of climate change on agricultural production to ensure food security.
AGRA is an African-based organization that is working towards sustainable farming practices to ensure farmers can sustain and improve their yields, resulting in greater profitability.
Mr Rufus Idris, Country Director, AGRA Nigeria, disclosed this on Tuesday during a one-day ‘Stakeholders Engagement Programme’ held in Kaduna.
The meeting focused on, “Socialisation of Achievements and Environmental and Social Risk Management of AGRA’s Support to Building Famer Resilience in Kaduna and Niger”.
Idris said the organization was working in Nigeria, in particular, to help support food system transformation as required to ensure that Nigeria can grow enough food to feed itself.
He said, “For many years, AGRA has worked in Nigeria with a lot of partners to help transform that space.
“One of our unique models of engagement is working through a consortia model as in the past couple of years, we have had a couple of consortia in Kaduna, Niger.
”We also had a gender consortium with several partners from the private sector, government, NGOs, and farmers, working to address major issues.
“Importantly, we are addressing the issue of resilience that comes with shocks from climate change impact and those shocks require us to embrace more of smart climate agricultural practices.
“The consortiums are working heavily to help farmers embrace innovations in technology that can make them more climate-smart and respond to issues of droughts, pests, floods, and the like.”
The country director said in the past couple of years, the engagement with the consortiums had yielded good results.
He added that from some of the results, farmers now adopt technology that helps them boost their yield.
Idris said: “For instance, people cultivating maize have been able to see growth from 2 to at least 4 metric tons per hectare.
”People who cultivate rice have had a boost from 2 to 4.2 metric tons per hectare and this has also increased their income as well.
“Also, we have been able to see the distance between where farmers have to travel to access inputs.
”Distances that in the past used to be more than 29 km have been reduced within that region to 10 or fewer km, which is also a good improvement.
“Most importantly, farmers growing more resilience to some of those shocks through some of the solutions highlighted at the meeting.”
According to Idris, efforts have been upped by the government to help address the challenges in the agricultural sector.
He said, ”All the investments by the private sector to help transform that space and do better business, including those by AGRA and other donors, will create that kind of system change that we want to see.
”Although the environment is currently being threatened by climate change impact, the meeting aims to create synergy on how to address and build resilience.
“As we also deploy these technology and innovations, we have to be careful that we are not harming the environment.
”That is why we are talking about the environment and waste management system to ensure balance in boosting food.
“We are embracing new technology, innovations to provide food for ourselves but at the time ensure we keep the environment more sustainable and not causing any harm to the environment.”
Idris promised that the organization would continue to work with the government at the state and national levels as well as other partners to help address the government’s priority on Nigeria.
He added, “We will continue to support the private sector partners, the SMEs that need to grow, and our farmers, most importantly, to build resilience.
”It will also increase their yields, productivity, and income and ensure that policies work as well to create a healthy environment within the agricultural space.”
On the challenges of accessibility to farmland and insecurity, the country director said AGRA has a new strategy, ‘AGRA 3. O’, that looks at thriving constraints.
Idris said: “Access to land is very critical to us as AGRA doesn’t own land and cannot provide one.
”But we know the government does and can provide, so we partner with a governments like in Niger and Kaduna State to support building up the agricultural policy.
“In that policy, we have been able to see that women are more affected as they do not have access to land as compared to men.
“We also mitigate the gender policy that makes it all-inclusive as well so that women can also now have access to land to cultivate.
“AGRA is extending similar efforts in Nasarawa State beginning with a support with a policy framework that will capture inclusivity so that nobody is left out.”
On insecurity, Idris said AGRA holds an interface once a year with legislators who were saddled with the provision of agricultural services to look into issues of insecurity.
Mr. Bege Bungwon, Director of Agricultural Services, Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture, represented Alhaji Murtala Sabo, the Commissioner for Agriculture.
He said AGRA, with other partners, had introduced to the state a flagship program that had impacted the state to track its investment.
He said: “We have profiled all the actors within the sector to know where they operate from as well as the role they play in the agricultural sector.
“AGRA is promoting maize for insurance to a lot of our farmers, and this is evident in the scale-up of the yield.
“Averagely before, we were at 1.5, but I can confidently tell you that most farmers now are at the level of 4 metric tons per hectare, and that is a great achievement.”
The commissioner said that the state was collaborating with AGRA to sensitize the farmers on the dangers of climate change and with the idea of a “smart agriculture” initiative.
He called for continued collaboration, especially with other states in the northern region where food was mostly produced in the country.
Also, Hassan Umar, who represented Alhaji Salihu Boso, Commissioner, Niger Ministry of Agriculture, said that AGRA had been in operation in the state since 2018.
“With the coming of AGRA, there has been a significant improvement in the productivity of rice in particular and maize and soybeans as well.
“The consortium that brought in innovations in terms of imputes, agro-chemicals, access to market and finance have added to the increase of rice production and by extension, the standard of living of the farmers.
“Between 2018 and 2022, AGRA had worked with over 700,000 farmers along the value chain of rice, maize, and soybeans,” Umar said.
He also commended AGRA’s ‘2.0 Strategy’ in the state, which led to the finalization of the agricultural policy.
“For over 20 years, we had a policy that had been on draft, but with the intervention of AGRA, we finalized that policy in 2021, socialized it, and started implementing it.
“It articulates all the areas the government wants to intervene and all the investments that are required in all the value chain of agriculture, livestock and fishery,” Umar said.
Mrs Asibi Hassan, representative of ‘Grassroots Women Farmers’ in Kaduna State, said over 47,000 women drawn from the 23 local government areas in the state had participated in AGRA’s activities.
“The provision of imputes from AGRA had positively impacted our lives as there have been tremendous yields in our produce and from this, most of us have expanded our businesses and can cater for our families.
“Some of us are already into processing like myself, I produce vitamin A maize,” she said.
Hassan further disclosed that before the intervention of AGRA, some of them were only subsistence farmers who cultivated a quarter of a hectare, adding,” but now we can cultivate 2 to 4 hectares.”
She, however, pleaded with especially the government to mitigate the challenges of accessibility to farmlands and insecurity to enable women to thrive in agricultural activities.
By Ankeli Emmanuel, Sokoto
The Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has entered into partnership with
Nigeria Association of Small-Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Nasarawa State Chapter, to drive fresh investment options in the State.
With 68,000 hectares, the Dangote’s Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited (NSCL) in Tunga, is considered Nigeria’s biggest Backward Integration Policy (BIP) project in the sugar sector.
Speaking to newsmen, Chairman of the Nigeria Association of Small-Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Nasarawa State Chapter, Nidan Sambo Manasseh, said the 2025 Trade Fair and Exhibition has provided the chance for the Dangote Group and NASSI to consider the numerous business opportunities in the State.
According to Manasseh, “We are actively exploring opportunities to deepen our collaboration with the Dangote Group, particularly in expanding employment programmes through youth and women’s skills acquisition and other vital support services.
“We deeply appreciate the Dangote Group’s invaluable collaboration through financial support and sponsorship of NASSI’s programs. Their contribution has been exceptional, and we are profoundly grateful.”
Continuing, Manasseh said the Nasarawa Trade Fair Exhibition (NASTFE) is a vital catalyst for the State’s economic transformation, adding that the strategic initiative by NASSI directly aligns with Governor Abdullahi Sule’s vision to stimulate investment and unlock significant growth.
He said Nasarawa State’s wealth in mineral resources is a central highlight of NASTFE, adding that the exhibition will showcase how its natural endowment can drive economic growth by encouraging value addition in raw material processing and manufacturing, particularly benefiting Small Scale Industries.
“NASTFE serves as a premier platform to showcase Nasarawa State’s considerable potential, connecting discerning investors with its abundant natural resources and dynamic human capital. Governor Sule’s commitment to a business-enabling environment is evident, with NASTFE designed to effectively communicate this compelling value proposition,” he added.
The chairman of NASSI said its objective is to leverage Nasarawa State’s rich natural resources to fuel economic growth by promoting value addition in raw material processing and manufacturing.
“This focus will enhance economic value, particularly for Small Scale Industries, attract crucial investment, generate employment opportunities, and contribute to poverty reduction,” he said.
A statement from the Dangote Group’s Chief Branding and Communication Officer, Anthony Chiejina, said: “Nasarawa State is central to our overall investment in Nigeria. It is home to Dangote’s Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited (NSCL). The sugar project, when completed, will be one of the biggest sugar investments on the African continent.”
The statement quoted the Senior Special Adviser to the Dangote Group’s President, Fatima Wali Abdurrahman, as saying that: “We are not taking this partnership for granted. Our Strategic Business Units (SBUs) are participating.
According to her, some of the Business Units participating from the Dangote Group are: Dangote Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited (DPAN), Dangote SinoTruck, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Salt (NASCON) and Dangote Cement, among others.”
Mrs. Abdurrahman said the Trade Fair offers the company an opportunity to interact with stakeholders and Nigerians who may want to do business with the company.
She said a special Help Desk will be created for inquiries to enable the company to receive feedback from participants.
She urged participants to visit the company’s pavilion and take advantage of its innovative products.
By Ankeli Emmanuel, Sokoto
Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu, has pledged to intervene in the workers’ loan repayments that were deducted from their salaries but never remitted to the respective banks.
The Governor made this commitment while responding to an appeal by the Sokoto State Chairperson of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdullahi Aliyu, who urged the state government to intervene in the matter.
According to the NLC chairperson, many workers who took loans through salary deductions have continued to suffer due to the failure of officials in the previous administration to remit the deductions to the banks.
“Your Excellency, please come to the aid of these people. They have been at a crossroads for years,” Comrade Abdullahi appealed. “We know you to be firm in defending people’s rights. Please apply your popular slogan, in kudi kudi in aiki aiki, to recover the diverted funds.”
Governor Aliyu assured the labour leader and affected workers that his administration will investigate the matter and ensure that the right thing is done .
“This administration prioritizes human rights and will not condone any violations under any guise,” the Governor said. “We are committed to protecting the rights of the weak, the less privileged, and the downtrodden in our state.”
a statement by Abubakar Bawa, the Press Secretary to the governor quoted his principal as appealing to the people of State to continue their support and cooperation with his administration so that they can continue to benefit from the dividends of democracy.
The governor further expressed gratitude for the public’s fervent prayers to his administration and urged them to mentain the tempo.
By Abubakar Yusuf
Over the decades , the administration of Lands in the nation’s city and area councils has been characterised with series of sharp practices, corruption, fake allocation, encroachments, double allocations among many others from the FCT allocation to area councils allocations, creating so many crises that involved even the officials of both FCT and area councils.
These ugly development spanned for over two decades and since the movement of the FCT from Lagos to Abuja does not augur well for the development of Federal Capital Territory FCT, Abuja and had tend to erode and bastardise the original master plan of the FCT , hence creating frequent adjustments and readjustments ,through demolitions among many other things that will restore the FCT original master plan .
Determined to right the wrongs in the Land sector , along with physical, infrastructural and socioeconomic development of the FCT, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike introduced a sweeping program that will restore not only the dignity of land administration in the FCT and area councils, but bring sanity to land administration in the nation’s city.
This is been done through the need to regularise the over 261,000 lands allocated by the area councils closed to two decades , precisely since 2006,(17 years), with only and barely 8,000 have been regularized.
According to the Minister , the new policy gave land allottees in FCT within 21 days to process and accept documents beginning from April 21, while land development that was kept for many decades will be developed within two years or attract revocation and re-allocation to interested developers without further delay .
It is on record that abandoned plots and uncompleted houses has been the abode for criminals , criminal elements and their collaborators, who engaged in all sorts of vices and criminalities across the length and breadth of the nation’s city and area councils .
In 2000, through Public Private Partnership PPP, Mass Housing of allocation of FCT land was carried out to interested companies and organizations, this was geared towards providing mass and affordable houses for Abuja residents across the FCT, the private developers took advantage of the mass arrangement without doing the needful, by proper titling , with the new arrangements on land reforms , reclamation and recovery, all allotted lands and allottees are expected to regularise their allocations henceforth.
Payment of fees and rents among other bills will be regularized with the new policy, as out of the 445 engaged Mass Housing Program through PPP, only two developers met with the terms and conditions specified by the FCT administration.
The Minister who was very explicit and determined on genuine land reforms made announcement inter alia as follows…
“WIKE INTRODUCES SWEEPING REFORMS IN FCT LAND ADMINISTRATION
• AREA COUNCIL LAND ALLOCATIONS TO BE REGULARISED
• MASS HOUSING PROPERTIES TO BE TITLED IN FAVOUR OF BUYERS
• ALLOTTEES MUST DEVELOP LANDS WITHIN TWO YEARS.”
“We are here to intimate you of the broad and comprehensive reforms on land administration in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), that the Minister, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, CON, has approved for implementation.”
“These reforms, which will become operational from April 21, 2025, cover specific areas like conditions of grant of Statutory Right of Occupancy, contents of the Statutory Right of Occupancy Bill, contents of Letter of Acceptance/Refusal of offer of grant of Right of Occupancy, titling of Mass Housing and sectional interests, as well as regularization of Area Council Land documents.”
“It should be noted that before now, deadline for payment of bills, rents, fees and charges is not specified in the Statutory Right of Occupancy bill, and no penalty for failure to make payment promptly. This has caused delay in revenue receivable due to non-collection of Right of Occupancy (R-of-O) and non-payment of bills, slower pace of infrastructural development, sustained land speculation and racketeering while huge expenses have been incurred by the FCT Administration through repeated advertisements and publications notifying the public on the need for collection of R-of-O and timely payment of bills and charges.”
“Consequently, as against the unspecified period within which to collect the Right of Occupancy (R-of-O) and make full payment of the Statutory Right of Occupancy bills and charges, land allottees now have 21 days from the date of offer, to make full payment of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed on offers of Statutory Rights of Occupancy and submit a duly completed Letter of acceptance alongside evidence of payments, or lose the offer.”
“Also, as against the lengthy period within which to develop allocated lands, the period within which to erect and complete developments on any land granted in the FCT is now two years from the date of the commencement of the R-of-O.”
“Therefore, any R-of-O bills and any other payments made outside the stipulated 21 days shall be considered invalid while any land granted should be developed within two years. ”
“On lands previously allocated by Area Councils, the law stipulates that all lands in the FCT are urban land. It therefore becomes necessary that all land documents issued by the Area Councils are considered for regularization to statutory titles in line with relevant statutes.”
“It should be noted that in 2006, the Zonal Land, Planning and Survey offices of the six Area Councils were directed to submit all Area Council allocation lists, layouts, files and registers to Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS)/Lands Department, and this was done by the Area Councils.”
“However, to date, out of the 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted for regularization, only 8,287 have been vetted, out of which only 2,358 were cleared, validated and regularized to statutory titles. The 8,287 were vetted from 2006 to 2023 (17 years), and this represents just 3.2% of the total land documents submitted for vetting and regularization as at today, the FCT Administration is still left with 253,627 submissions in its database.”
“Area Council land documents successfully vetted and confirmed would have statutory titles on such lands issued and the allottees will have sixty days to make full payments of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed, failure of which the offers shall become invalid.”
“On Mass Housing, it should be noted that the Mass Housing Programme was initiated in year 2000 to utilize the Public Private Partnership (PPP) strategy with the objective of providing affordable housing for the residents of FCT. ”
“However, from the inception of the Mass Housing programme in 2000 till date, out of the 445 Mass Housing allocations granted, only two developers have successfully met the terms and conditions.”
“A new operational framework for titling of Mass Housing and Sectional Interests has been developed to fast-track the exercise efficiently, effectively and diligently, in line with the Minister’s vision to restore confidence in the administration of lands in the FCT.”
“Currently, the holders/occupiers of properties within the various Mass Housing Estates in the FCT do not pay and bills, rents, fees and charges to the government despite having held and occupied the properties for decades.”
“In recognition of the urgent need to issue titles to the beneficiaries of Mass Housing and Sectional Interests, all applications for titling are to be made by the Subscribers/Developers to the Department of land Administration for processing.”
“Processing of titles for Mass Housing and Sectional Interests shall commence on April 21, 2025, in line with the new operational framework. ”
The release further shed more light…
“The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) screened only 8,287 out of the 261,914 area council land documents submitted for regularization between 2006 and 2023.”
“Mr Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the FCT Minister, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.”
“Olayinka said that the 8,287 vetted land documents represented only 3.2 per cent of the 261,914 documents submitted for vetting and regularization. ”
“According to him, the FCT Administration was still left with 253,627 submissions in its database.”
“He explained that the measure was part of the broad and comprehensive reforms on land administration in the FCT approved by the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike.”
“He said that the reforms, which would become operational from April 21, covers specific areas like conditions of grant of statutory Right of Occupancy (R of O), and contents of the statutory R of O bill.”
“Others, he said, would include contents of Letter of Acceptance/Refusal of offer of grant of R of O, titling of mass housing and sectional interests, as well as regularization of area council land documents.”
“He explained that the crux of the sweeping reforms in the FCT land administration would ensure the regularization of land allocations in area councils and title of mass housing properties in favour of buyers.”
“He added that land allottees were also expected to develop allocated lands within two years.”
“The spokesman explained that in 2006, the Zonal Land, Planning and Survey Offices of the six area councils were directed to submit all area council’s allocation lists.”
“He added that the lists, which were submitted to the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) and Lands Department, included layouts, files and registers.”
“Olayinka, however, said that to date, out of the 8,287 vetted documents, only 2,358 lands were cleared, validated and regularised to statutory titles.”
“He said that area council land documents successfully vetted and confirmed, would be given statutory titles on such lands.”
“He added that the allottees would have sixty days to make full payments of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed, failure of which the offers shall become invalid.”
“The spokesman explained that the action was in line with the provision of the law, which stipulated that all lands in the FCT were urban land.”
“It, therefore, becomes necessary that all land documents issued by the area councils are considered for regularization to statutory titles in line with relevant statutes,” he said.
In the same vein , the Director of Land Administration, FCTA, opined …
“The Director of Land Administration, FCTA Chijioke Nwankwoeze, said that the decision to regularise lands issued by area councils was to give the land reform a human face.”
“Nwankwoeze noted that not much progress had been achieved from 2006 to date, considering the 253,627 land documents, representing 96.8 per cent awaiting clearance.”
“He, however, expressed optimism that the documents would be cleared in two years following the framework approved by Wike.”
“I am confident that the holders of area councils’ lands will begin to smile because they will now have statutory R of O and Certificate of Occupancy upon full payments of requisite bills,” he said.”
With the new policy thrust, the issue of land speculations , land grabbing and fraud sweeping across FCT, that had become milk and honey of questionable Nigerians will become a thing of the past , as well as restore the good image of the nation’s city and it’s area councils.
Written BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.