NIGERIAN PROJECT: Desert-To-Food Program

 

MISSION STATEMENT:

The National Steering Committee on the Greenwall Sahara and the eleven frontline states comprising of (Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Kano, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara) states in collaboration with FramanAgridev (Nig) Limited are poised to reverse the continued degradation of the Nigeria environment. This will be achieved through a novel initiative by FramanAgridev known as “DESERT-TO-FOOD-PROGRAM” a component of the Greenwall Sahara initiative that has attached the approval and support of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The program is designed to halt further devastation while facilitating reclamation of degraded land occasioned by natural and human activities in the frontline states.

 

VISION:

To halt the Southward encroachment of the desert, recover already desertified land, ensure its protection as well as conserve the ecosystem and bio-diversity to restore environmental integrity, this epoch-making collaboration and pragmatic approach to tackling Nigeria’s cum West Africa’s desertification and other Ecological challenges. Besides the quest to develop Nigeria’s agricultural sector to complement and enhance the nation’s foreign exchange earning capacity, the fact that Nigeria is progressively threatened by grave ecological problems needs to be emphasized. The North in particular is faced with worsening desertification problems; as a result the once agrarian region is fast metamorphosing into a sprawl of arid, infertile and un-cultivatable land.

 

THE PROJECT:

The project is anchored on public-private partnership arrangement that will effectively be driven by the affected communities, federal, states and local government agencies in collaboration with FramanAgridev, the United States of America, Israeli Government and other international allies and donor agencies over several years. The double barrelled initiative is therefore a culmination of the collective quest to confront the scourge head-on and permanently arrest the situation over a target period of (15) years from inception.

 

PROJECTION:

The “DESERT-TO-FOOD-PROGRAM” under the Management of FramanAgridev and other collaborating agencies is expected to attain a self-sustaining and self-financing status after only (5) years of take-off by which time it will also have developed the capacity to fetch the country substantial foreign exchange through export of agricultural produce. Furthermore a meticulous study of subsequent pages dwelling on different branches of high profile farming techniques develop and pioneered by FramanAgridev for internal and external transfer, will ease every iota of doubt as to the workability of the project. On the part of institutions and/or established individual farmers that may wish to take advantage of the initiative widely described as a 21st century panacea for real economic growth and self-sufficiency in food production.

 

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNTIES:

Apart from helping Nigeria attain self-sufficiency in food production, the program is expect to create in excessive of 500,000 direct job opportunities in its first (3) years of operation and over 2.5 million indirect employment opportunities when fully operational. The projection is expected to double over the next (5) years, encouraging and training of unemployed graduates who would undergo tutelage over a period of (5) years after which government will be expected  to mortgage necessary equipment to them to enable such beneficiaries establish their own farms and create further job opportunities for Nigerians. In addition to the myriad of benefits prevalent in the above measures, the most substantial lies in the projection that Nigeria stands to net export earnings in excess of ₦16 - ₦60 billion from agriculture alone after (3 – 7) years of take-off from the initiative.

 

LOW COST HOUSING:

Low cost housing will be introduced, using local available building materials. Training will be provided to representative from village cluster. Each house will be ~ 70 sq meters. Including sleeping room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. The inhabitants will build their own house.

 

SUMMARY:

This unique and strategic Desert to food program, locates the federal government of Nigeria at the front line among all countries aiming to combat the desert. The project will improve the socio-economic life of the population in the 19 northern states and Abuja in Nigeria at large. The Desert to food program is a long term project and very demanding from many aspects including the heavy finance. We are confident that once the federal government of Nigeria finance the initial stage, the entire international community will join and share this enormous project. The proposed International Conference in Abuja is essential to expose the project.