National Senior Citizens Center, (NSCC), has said that it has secured 21.6-hectare farmland under its Grandmothers Arise for Good Initiative economic tree crop and vegetable planting project to engage women and men aged sixty and above in productive living.
Director General of the Center, Dr. Omokaro said the primary target of the project is to enhance the production and productive capacities of older persons in Nigeria through agriculture using the Social-Economic Entrepreneurial Model.
She made this known at a the lease signing ceremony in Ushafa community, Bwari area council of the Federal Capital Territory,(FCT), Abuja
A statement signed by the Head, Corporate Affairs, Media and Communications of the center, Omini Oden, contains that the project will also integrate water sanitation and hygiene, healthcare and social services for 43 beneficiaries consisting of forty per cent make and sixty per cent female working in pairs on the 21.6-hectare land to cultivate Groundnut, Maize and Cowpea annually.
The communique notes that “The beneficiaries are largely non-pensioned members of the Ushafa Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society who will adopt the communal approach to agriculture with the tendency to leverage resources from the community, private sector, government and other partners to improve on their outputs, production and productivity.
“Off-taking arrangement is designed to meet the specific needs of consumers of targeted markets, locally and internationally and the initiative which has partnerships with SMEDAN, WHO, Water Aid, FCT RUWASSA and FCT PHCDA facilitated by NSCC, will adopt and promote smart and climate-friendly agricultural practices as well as enhance the production and productive capacities of the farmers and cooperative.”
It continues, “There shall be dedicated 1.6hectares of land for the cultivation of 5000 tree seedlings that will have economic value to mitigate the effect of climate change through the promotion of watershed protection, development of tree canopies and grooves in schools, open spaces and walk ways.”
