Inna Galadima, Borno state Commissioner of Agriculture hands over vegetable seed to a farmer as part of FAO's dry season programme to benefit 80 600 households or 564 000 people in 2018.

For many smallholder farmers in northeast Nigeria, food production typically halts or slows during the dry season ranging October to April. To spur cultivation  during this critical period - ensuring food availability beyond the rainy season harvests and into the lean season - the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is supporting about 80 600 households, an estimated 564 000 people, with crop seed and fertilizer. FAO’s dry season intervention, which began on 17 November 2018 in Maiduguri, Borno State will offer another boost to agriculture-based livelihoods in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. 

Kit composition

FAO will deliver inputs using a kit system comprising cereal or vegetable seed and a 25 kg bag of fertilizer, the latter to be distributed to all beneficiaries. In Kit 1, farmers will receive a package of vegetable seed including amaranthus (a green leafy vegetable), cabbage, tomato, carrot and onion. Kits 2 and 3 are comprised of high yielding varieties of rice and maize seed, respectively.  FAO’s dry season intervention builds on the Organization’s 2018 rainy season programme which reached close to 800 000 farmers with similar inputs.

‘The continuum between rainy and dry season farming is a unique opportunity to enhance the resilience of farmers and strengthen agricultural livelihoods,’ said Nourou Macki Tall, FAO Deputy Representative in Nigeria and head of northeast Nigeria operations. Tall also stressed that the end of the season is usually characterized by higher food prices, low food production and increased food insecurity. He also shared that dry season food production must be scaled up in Borno and Adamawa and Yobe states to ensure lasting food security among the most vulnerable smallholder producers.

FAO’s activities in the northeast 

In 2018, and for the second consecutive year, FAO   is supporting over 1.5 million people including internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. The Organization’s emergency interventions are in the areas of crop production, livestock, aquaculture, agri-business, climate change adaptation, access to savings and loans, safe access to fuel and energy and agricultural extension services.

In November 2018, the Cadre Harmonisé, the main food security assessment tool in West Africa, indicated a total of 1.7 million households face food insecurity in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states from October to December 2018. When compared to the same period in 2017 the figure is about 850 000 people less, strong evidence of the effectiveness of humanitarian efforts in the region.

FAO has appealed for USD 31.5 million in 2018, in order to support agricultural households. About USD 18 million has been mobilized, including carryover funding from 2017.

Contact:

Patrina Pink

FAO Maiduguri Sub-Office 

Borno State, Nigeria

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.fao.org

Cellphone: 0-805-126-5255