By; Mohammed Kawu, Bauchi
Governor Bala Mohammed has said that Bauchi state has the huge appatite of providing solution to the harder/farmer clashes in Nigeria with it’s vast arable land that could put a halt to the trans-human practice of pastoralism that has been stopped all over the world.
He explained that the vast land could provide water, grass and place for the Fulani people and others to habitate and grow large livestock industry and agriculture to create wealth and sustainable job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths and boost economy through marketing activities.
The Governor was speaking while receiving a delegation from Livestock Production and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project, a World Bank 3-year sustainability programme for the establishment of Livestock Service Centre in the state that was in Bauchi for a courtesy visit at the Government House
Senator Bala Mohammed explained that the state government would maximize the opportunity of the project to improve productivity and commercialization of targeted livestock production systems and strengthen the resilience of livelihoods, including those affected by farmer-herder conflicts.
According to him, the L-PRES project would not only transform the agricultural landscape of Bauchi state but equally improve the livelihoods of thousands farmers, while the state government would develop strategies with a view to position Bauchi as a viable investment destination for agribusiness in the country.
“Bauchi has arable land and it has the geography, the water system and everything. We have lust vegetation that can support livestock development. We have not exploited all our potentials, the World Bank is helping us to do it”, the governor stated.
Mohammed expressed delight with the World Bank, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, and the Federal Government in particular for the project which, he noted, would add value to Bauchi as a state, and assured of his government support in the project implementation its potential to enhance the already existing livestock value chains in place.
He urged the delegation to provide policy guidelines, strategic orientation and direction for the project, and implored individuals, groups, cooperative societies and investors along the livestock value chain development to capitalize on the project and make use of the rare opportunity.
“We must coordinate and make sure we leverage on Agro-Climatic Resilience In Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACResal) project that we have worked on plan in a manner that we have 100 small dams that would provide water to agriculturalists”, he said.
The Governor explained that the plan will go along way in making sure the L-PRES programme of the World Bank has a coordinated action to grow the state livestock sector.
The National Coordinator of the program, Dr. Sanusi revealed that Bauchi is one of the states that met the execution cretaria for participation in the project which is unconnected to the premium passion and commitment of Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed.
He said that Bauchi is one of the two states in the federation clearly mentioned in the project appraisal and allow to establish Livestock Service Centre through performance based condition because the implementation readiness for Bauchi is more advanced than the rest of the participating states.
“The essence, unlike the traditional project financing where disbursements are usually made before the project execution, L-PRES will.only disburse after the project activities are executed or certain milestones are achieved.
Sanusi explained that for the livestock service centre establishment in Bauchi, each of the following milestock comes on certain disbursement namely securing 100, 000 hectres of gazetted land with the design prepared and approved by the management review committee, and 3-year action plan approved by the project steering committee.
He said however, “Your Excellency, I was reliably informed that you have already approved the use of 200, 000 hectres of land and the design is ready, and will be unveiled today, thanks to the tremendous support received from His Excellency”.
“Year-2 is putting in basic infrastructure installation according to L-PRES design, while year-3 will be the installation of livestock husbandry and health facilities according to the L-PRES design, and in addition to putting in place value additional and marketing facilities”.
Sanusu further told the governor, “Your Excellency, resources expanded by the state to achieve each of these milestones stated above would be immediately refunded by the project after subjecting and transferring them through protocol by an independent dedication team”.
He concluded, “It is noteworthy to mention that all the 36 states of the federation are eligible to partake in the project as long as they met the required cretaria”.
Bauchi state project coordinator L-PRES, Dr. Rose Danladi Idi has in a welcome address said that PRES Project is a World Bank assisted Project in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as the State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development aimed at improving livestock value chain.
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