“Bauchi State Agriculture Commissioner Pledges Collaboration with ACReSAL Project to Restore Degraded Land: A Step towards Sustainable Development”
By Muhammad Sani Muazu
The Bauchi State Commissioner of Agriculture, Professor Simon Madugu Yalams, has reiterated his ministry’s commitment to collaborating with the Agro Climate Resilience In Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) project in order to restore thousands of degraded hectares of land in the state.
At a one-day step-down training session for stakeholders on large-scale landscapes restoration, Yalams promised to work closely with the project for the benefit of the state.
The training, organized by the Agro Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project, saw the participation of over two hundred extension workers, forestry officers, and other stakeholders from all the twenty local government areas of Bauchi State.
During the event, Professor Madugu Yalams, represented by Muhammad Sa’idu, the Director of Agricultural Services at the ministry, emphasized the crucial role of the ministry in achieving ACReSAL’s mandate and pledged full support from the ministry.
Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki, the Commissioner of Water Resources and Co-Chairman of the State Steering Committee, affirmed his ministry’s commitment to collaborating closely with other sister agencies in Bauchi State to ensure the full realization and sustainability of the six-year project’s benefits.
Presenting the Project Implementation Manual and project assessment document of ACReSAL to Permanent Secretaries of the three implementing ministries and the Senior Special Adviser to the Bauchi State Governor on Agriculture, Danlami Ahmad Kawule, urged them to thoroughly review and comprehend the manual to ensure that Bauchi State regains its leading position among the nineteen northern states and Abuja in the implementation of the World Bank project.
Nasiru Abdu Umar, the Forestry Officer of ACReSAL, delivered a paper titled “Land Degradation in Bauchi State: The Need for Action,” while Professor Ahmad Sabo from the Savannah Institute for Sustainable Development (SISDev) presented his paper on “Modern Techniques in Large Scale Land Restoration.”
Wrapping up the workshop, syndicate group discussions and presentations were conducted, where extension workers, forestry officers, officials from the Ministry of Water Resources, among other stakeholders, shared their key mandates, challenges, and success stories in the crusade to restore degraded land in the state.
Meanwhile, the Bauchi State Project Coordinator of Agro Climate Resilience In Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) Dr. Kabir Ibrahim, sheds light on the ambitious plans to restore degraded lands in the northern region of Nigeria.
Dr. Kabir Ibrahim, has confirmed that in addition to the ACReSAL’s ambitious goal of restoring 1 million hectares of degraded land across nineteen northern states and Abuja, the project has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to further expand its efforts in land restoration within the same region.
