The Federal government has partnered United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to implement the ‘Country Programming Framework’ (CPF) aimed to boost Nigerian agricultural sector.
The CPF is a five year agricultural project whose funding is expected to be drawn from the federal, state, local governments and international donors.
According to Fred Kafeero, FAO country representative in Nigeria, the project is in alignment with the national development policies and programmes as well as the FAO global strategic framework that emphasises on the transformation of agri-food systems in countries.
“The CPF is aligned with the national development policies and programmes in this country, it is aligned with our offer and support as the United Nations in Nigeria, it is also aligned with our FAO global strategic framework that emphasises the transformation of agri-food systems in countries.
“The CPF in this case also takes advantage of a number of cooperative initiatives that FAO has launched in the last few years.
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“We are focusing on four pillars which we call the strategic pillars and they are best on the FAO global strategy to realise what is called the four Betters; Better production, Better nutrition, Better environment, and Better life”, he said.
In his presentation, the Assistant FAO Representative to Nigeria, (Programme), Abubakar Suleiman said the project will be implemented on four pillars which includes: sustainable and inclusive agri-food systems for improved productivity; increasing resilience of food and agriculture-based livelihood systems; healthy and nutritious diets and sustainable natural resource and climate management.
He explained that the project will strengthen capacities for value chain analysis, and ensure upgrade of priority commodity value chains.
The project according to Suleiman is expected to boost capacity for increased productivity in livestock, fisheries, and selected crop and forest value chains as well as improve surveillance capacity for the plant-animal–human-environment interface through the one health approach among others.
According to Suleiman, a total of $99,521,000 would be required to implement the project.
In his address, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Abubakar said the project is a welcome development as it will boost access to better food, maintain healthy diets, and improve the rural economy.
He said, “four pillars of priorities for agricultural development include; Strengthen National Food and Nutrition Security through enhanced nutrition sensitive and climate-smart food systems; Support for appropriate and operationally effective Agricultural Policy and Regulatory Framework; Support to Nigeria Economic Diversification Agenda and Promotion of decent employment for youth and women in the agriculture value chains; Improve efficient and Sustainable Management of natural resources and ecosystem; and enhance Disaster risk reduction, resilience building and emergency Management towards strengthening the Humanitarian Development nexus.
“it is essential to note that if the agriculture sector must be transformed, we must all prepare to invest massively in the sector and rise to the call against hunger and food wastes in the value chains.
“We should indeed develop a strong action Plan to address the impact of climate change, global pandemic, institutional inadequacies, post-harvest losses and weak supply chain on food systems in partnership with Development partners.”
