The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has partnered with state governments to convert degraded forest reserves into large-scale agricultural estates across Nigeria.
Announcing the development during a media briefing, the Executive Secretary of NALDA, Engr. Cornelius Adebayo stated that recovering these underused and depleted forest zones will expand national food cultivation, clear out criminal hideouts, and establish secure farming clusters.
The reclamation strategy operates under the Renewed Hope Mega Farm Estate Programme, which aims to establish farming clusters of at least 5,000 hectares across the country.
NALDA is already collaborating with the Kwara State Government to rehabilitate degraded forest reserves for commercial cashew cultivation by members of the Cashew Processors Association of Nigeria (CAPAN).
Adebayo noted that grouping farmers into unified clusters allows the government and private investors to efficiently deploy essential infrastructure, including solar-powered irrigation, mechanised clearing services, access roads, and security.
States such as Ekiti, Bauchi, Plateau, Katsina, and Niger have allocated land for the project, while the authority maintains that all developed lands will be managed in partnership with indigenous communities for collective local prosperity.
Parallel to crop cultivation, NALDA is executing the Green Hope Project, a specialised horticulture campaign combining open-field cultivation with high-tech greenhouse technology to decentralise vegetable production near major urban markets.
The authority has established operational facilities in Giri, Abuja, and Shagamu, Ogun State, which are scheduled for official commissioning in September 2026.
Production targets include expanding the greenhouse count by 50 units in Lagos and 60 units in Abuja, alongside establishing 38 open-field sites nationwide.
This branch of the project specifically targets 4,000 women beneficiaries, providing each with 1,000 square meters of irrigated land, technical training via the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), and structured off-take aggregation to minimise post-harvest losses.
The agricultural expansion also extends into aquaculture development across the southern region.
NALDA is setting up dedicated fish villages in the Niger Delta, launching a pilot facility in Akwa Ibom State following a land allocation from the state government.
This shift follows security challenges that disrupted previous fish centres in Borno and other northern territories.
Adebayo emphasised that these combined interventions align with President Bola Tinubu’s economic goals by combining land development, mechanisation, and rural infrastructure to maximise the efficiency of tractors currently being deployed nationwide.
Source: The Nation
