By Furera Mohammed
The Kwara State Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) has conducted a one-day Step- down training for its State Project Management Unit (SPMU) staff and the State Extension Agents from the 16 local government areas of the state on land restoration techniques.
The workshop came on the heels of the 3-Day Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop organized by FAO in partnership with the ACReSAL project held recently in Abuja.
The workshop was organized to build the capacities of the Project Technical Officers towards achieving ACReSAL’s target of restoring 1 million hectares of degraded land across in the nineteen participating northern states plus FCT which include Kwara, in the next 4 years.
The FAO technical assistance targets the restoration of 350,000 hectares of degraded landscape across the participating States.
In his Opening remark, the Commissioner for Environment, who is also the Chairman, State Steering Committee of the project, Hon Usman Sheu Ndanusa said the project has given Kwara the opportunity to revive their landscape and must be used judiciously with total dedication to teamwork by every individual, which will help to improve the livelihood of the communities.
While welcoming participants and guests at the workshop, the Project Coordinator, Alhaji Shamsideen Olatunbosun Aregbe while highlighting the objective of the step-down training said it’s to provide the required technical expertise for the development and successful implementation of the ACReSAL Project.
He stated that this would be done by enhancing the capacities of the technical staff of the project as well as the Extension Agents.
The PC posited that Kwara already has 40,017 hectares of degraded landscape which has been sketched out of which Lata alone is 25,141 hectares, from which FAO has recommended the restoration of 10,000 to 11,000 hectares at Lata Grazing Reserve in Patigi LGA for a take off.
The State Project Coordinator however assured that the remaining 15 LGAs of the State will soon be covered.
He had earlier applauded the Kwara State Government, the World Bank, FAO and ACReSAL project for their immense contributions towards ensuring the realization of the Project Development Objectives(PDO).
He therefore, enjoined all the participants to pay keen attention to every detail of the training in order to achieve the desired objectives of the project in the State.
In her closing remark, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, who is also the Chairman State Technical Committee, Hajia Afusat Ibrahim said every individual should participate in the task of restoring the land for the betterment of all and sundry.
She urged the participants to pay rapt attention to the training sessions as human factors have a role to play in land restoration.
