Food
By Uwumarogie Peter
Gombe, May 31, 2018 (2018) Mr Tayo Adewumi, the National Project Coordinator of FADAMA III, says the cash-for-work programme is to address urgent food needs in the North-East, ravaged by activities of Boko Haram insurgents.
Adewumi said this at the launch of FADAMA Vanguard under the auspices of ‘cash-for-work’ programme of FADAMA III additional financing in Gombe on Thursday.
Represented by Mrs Awotunde Busayo, FADAMA III Official, the national coordinator said the programme was aimed at meeting urgent food needs of those ravaged by insurgency in the North East and to resuscitate the agriculture sector to sustain growth in the region.
He added that “the cash-for-work programme aims to respond to the urgent food and livelihood needs of families whose means of income has been devastated by conflicts in the six states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe.
“The focus is on selected activities that will be implemented quickly to set these conflict-affected states’ agriculture sector on strong footing toward a further sustainable development in the medium to long term horizon.”
He explained that the activities included restoration of agricultural activities, rehabilitation and investment on rural infrastructure and social mobilisation.
Others were capacity building for farmers and local communities, incremental cost for project management and monitoring and evaluation.
Adewumi said the cash-for-work was designed to benefit about 12,000 households across the North-East and Gombe State with 90 Community Action Plans targeting 1,800 youths and women.
He noted that the Federal Government, through FADAMA III AF II, designed the ‘cash-for-work’ as viable option in the reconstruction of the North-Eastern part of the country following activities of Boko Haram insurgents which ravaged the area.
The Gombe Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Dahiru Biri, said the state had benefitted a lot from the FADAMA III programme.
The commissioner, who was represented by Mr Laban Maina, the Programme Manager, Gombe State Ministry of Agriculture, said the programme had engaged many youths and women in the state.
Mrs Habiba Mohammed, the state’s Coordinator of FADAMA III, said the programme had impacted positively on the lives of IDPs and host communities in the state. (NAN)
UP/JPE/HA
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Edited by Joseph Edeh/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu