The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) intends to refurbish 18,000 hectares of degraded land in Cross River and Ondo states for sustainable cocoa and oil palm cultivation to attract $200 million in investment into Nigeria’s value chain.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Ms Nifesimi Ogunkua, FAO Climate Change Specialist, announced on Monday at a four-day FAO Participatory Informed Landscape Approach (PILA) Workshop in Calabar.
The initiative would rehabilitate 10,800 hectares in Cross River and 8,000 hectares in Ondo using regenerative agricultural and forestry approaches.
Its core objectives include developing two Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) frameworks at the state level, creating four integrated land-use plans at the local government level, and strengthening four gender-sensitive policies, regulations, and financing frameworks to advance sustainable land management.
“The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and its partners are to support the restoration of 18,000 hectares of land in two states for the sustainable cultivation of cocoa and oil palm,” the NAN report read in part.
It added, “The key deliverables of the project include the creation of two Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) frameworks at the state level and four integrated land-use plans at the local government level.
“Additionally, the project aims to strengthen at least four gender-sensitive state and federal government policies, regulations, and financing frameworks. It also targets an increase of up to $200 million in private and public investment in the sustainable cocoa and oil palm value chain.”
Ogunkua stated that the project addresses shortcomings identified by the Federal Government in the European Union Deforestation Regulation.
The effort aims to promote integrated landscape management and is supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the FAO.
The project aims to encourage smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable land management methods, improve land tenure structures, and increase women’s access to land. It also prioritises eco-friendly cocoa and oil palm production to ensure long-term viability.
Mrs Iyabo Mustapha, Assistant Director of Land, Environment, and Climate Change at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, emphasised the project’s importance in assisting smallholder farmers in complying with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and ensuring their competitiveness in European markets.
“The federal ministry of agriculture is also introducing additional support packages for these farmers.
“If we fail to address these environmental concerns, the long-term impact could be detrimental—we may not have a viable environment for future generations,” Mustapha warned.
Mrs. Beatrice Nyiam, Chairman of the Boki Local Government Area in Cross River State, emphasised the project’s importance to her community.
She stated that Boki had suffered considerable environmental degradation due to logging and excessive agricultural chemical use, and she was optimistic that the effort would help restore ecological balance and address these long-standing challenges.
Source: Nairametrics
