World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and United Nations Women have completed livelihood projects initiated by the European Union (EU) in Borno State.

Country Representative of FAO, Fred Kafeero, said the EU projects were to restore ‘conflict-affected livelihoods’ through sustainable agriculture in the state.
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While celebrating the projects in Maiduguri, he stated: “The completion of these projects is to enhance food security and strengthen resilience among conflict-affected people in the state.”

According to him, the community-based projects are for peace-building and sustainable development for smallholder farmers.
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“Prior to the conflict, livelihoods in rural communities were centred on subsistence farming,” he said.

Smallholder farmers, he added, lost their agricultural assets to the conflict, which resulted in a high rate of unemployment, food shortage, malnutrition, increased poverty and Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
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