By Nasir Shuaibu
The World Bank-supported Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project has lifted about 41 per cent of local farmers out of poverty through increased agricultural income and other interventions across 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The ACReSAL Task Team Lead (TTL), Dr Joy Iganya Agege, disclosed this on Monday in Bauchi during a hybrid Additional Financing (AF) Pre-Appraisal Mission held at the Ahmadu Bello International Conference Centre.
Agege said the achievement demonstrated the impact of the project, which focuses on improving livelihoods, restoring degraded landscapes and strengthening climate resilience in semi-arid communities.
“ACReSAL alone has contributed to the reduction of poverty through increased income for farmers by about 41 per cent. That is huge,” she said.
She expressed optimism that the figure could rise beyond 50 per cent if the project receives additional financing from the World Bank.
According to her, the proposed additional financing would not introduce a new project design but would scale up existing interventions and extend them to more communities.
“We want to reach more people than what has happened. We want to reclaim more hectares beyond the over one million hectares that have been reclaimed,” she said.
The TTL said the project had also recorded strong performance in Bauchi State, which she described as one of the states that had demonstrated commitment to the objectives of ACReSAL.
She commended Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed for his support and understanding of donor-funded programmes, urging the Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Auwal Muhammad Jatau, who represented the governor, to convey the World Bank's appreciation.
She also commended project coordinators across the 19 states and the FCT for their contributions to the achievements recorded so far.
The National Project Coordinator, Abdulhamid Umar, said ACReSAL had performed excellently across its areas of operation, with several degraded landscapes reclaimed.
He said the project was designed to address the effects of climate change, improve agricultural productivity and strengthen food security.
Umar expressed optimism that the pre-appraisal mission would lead to an agreement that would attract additional financing from the World Bank with the support of the Federal Government.
He described ACReSAL as a “performing project”, saying its performance had paved the way for consideration of additional funding.
He said Bauchi was selected to host the meeting because of its strong performance under the project.
“Bauchi happens to be one of our best-performing states as far as ACReSAL is concerned. We didn’t find it difficult to come to Bauchi because ACReSAL is actually being implemented and delivering results here,” he said.
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