By: Femi Mustapha
Zamfara State Governor, Bello Mohammed Matawalle has announced concluded arrangement by his government to plant One Million arable trees in partnership with Nigeria’s Great Green Wall aimed at fighting desertification and soil erosion in the state.
This was contained in a statement signed by Director General, Media, Public Enlightenment and Communications
Government House, Yusuf Idris Gusau on 8th November, 2021.
The statement stated that the Governor divulged the information on Glasgow, United Kingdom when he hosted the Zamfara State Side Event at the ongoing COP 26.
He said, “as one of the frontline desert states in Nigeria with its 50 percent landmass under threat of desertification coupled with soil degradation occasioned by annual flooding caused during rainy seasons, his administration ventured into the scheme to save the largely agrarian society of the state farming millet, guinea corn, maize, rice, and other crops and guaranteeing food security of Nigeria.”
He lamented that climate change which is a major driving force to armed banditry bedeviling the state was the resultant effect of the taking over of pastoralists’ grazing reserves, water, and resting points, noting that the state government is now channeling resources to address all these including the establishment of modern pastoral settlements known as RUGA, where herders are being settled in one place with all required amenities provided for them and their animals and thereby stopping skirmishes between farmers and herders which gave birth to armed banditry in the first place.
The governor also said, the state government has already keyed into the World Bank-funded Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes program, which has desertification control and landscape management as one of its components
He said, while his administration is doing its best to protect natural habitats, protect and restore the ecosystem and reclaim the land by building defenses including resilient infrastructure and agriculture, the state government requires collaboration with partners to raise the finances that will strategically support this drive.