The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), has disclosed plans to partner with state governments in re-designating depleted forest reserves across the country for large-scale crop production as part of efforts to address insecurity and expand food supply.

 

The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Oluwasegun Adebayo disclosed this yesterday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the activities of the Authority since assuming office.

 

Citing provisions in the NALDA Act, the ES said it has the power to take over and develop underused reserves adding that converting forest reserves would serves dual purpose of: creating productive farmland and reclaiming areas currently associated with insecurity.

 

He disclosed that the Authority was working with the Kwara State government to take over old, depleted forest reserves prepare the land and hand it over to Cashew Processors Association of Nigeria (CAPAN) to plant cashew trees.

 

Adebayo stated that the move was tied to the Renewed Hope Mega Farm Estate model, aimed at developing farming clusters on a minimum of 5,000 hectares per location to provide infrastructure, security, and private sector services at scale.

 

He said “When you have farmers in one location it will help provide them with necessary infrastructures including security, irrigation facilities, mechanisation, government and credit institutions can also be brought on the farms”

 

The ES however emphasized that NALDA was not acquiring land for commercial use. He said ” we are not taking the land to go and use for personal business. Rather are taking that land, to develop it and on board the indigenes of the area for joint collective prosperity for a period of time,” .

 

He however disclosed that response from state governors has been mixed. While some states like Ekiti and Bauchi, Plateau, Kwara, Kastina, Niger and some others released land quickly, others have not responded to requests for up to two years. He also revealed that the Authority is currently engaging with Enugu state for the South-East and Bayelsa for the South-South to ensure regional representation in the Mega Farm programme.

 

In addition to crop clusters, the ES disclosed that NALDA was also rolling out the Green Hope Project for horticulture with 38 open-field sites nationwide targeting 4,000 women, and plans for fish and poultry clusters to boost protein production.

 

He disclosed that the Authority was also developing fish villages in the Niger Delta saying the y have c commenced the pilot project in Akwa Ibom state, where the State government had provided some hectares of land.

 

According to him, the fish villages would give opportunities to those into fishery businesses to grow and produce more fishes for both local consumption and export purposes.

 

He explained that the fish centers built previously by NALDA in Borno and other northern states have not functioned as expected due to insecurity.

 

He added that NALDA is focusing on Infrastructural development that will align with President Bola Tinubu’s vision for the country.

 

So, NALDA is positioned to provide that much-needed infrastructure to develop the agricultural sector. When you talk about infrastructure, it comes from land development in terms of land clearing. We have these beautiful tractors coming in. We need to prepare enough land for the tractors to operate. Some of them cannot operate in smallholder sizes”, he said.