FAO boss urged increased assistance to North east

Th e Director-General of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) José Graziano da Silva, has stated that it is imperative to immediately ramp up humanitarian assistance to hungerthreatened rural communities in the strifetorn Lake Chad Basin region.

He stated this recently during a visit to some of the aff ected areas in northeastern Nigeria, saying . Failure to restore food production now will lead to the worsening of widespread and severe hunger and prolonged dependency on external assistance further into the future. Adding that restoring agriculture-based livelihoods is key to recovery and peace eff orts in the region. “If we miss the coming planting season, there will be no substantial harvests until 2018. Th e time for all of us to act is now,” he said. It could be recalled that insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin – which incorporates parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and northeastern Nigeria – has resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis in Africa.

Th e confl ict has forced an estimated 1.9 million people to abandon their homes and their predominantly agricultural livelihoods, in northeastern Nigeria alone. Across the Lake Chad Basin region, some 7 million people risk suff ering from severe hunger during the lean season and require immediate food and livelihood assistance.

“Th e situation we have now is largely due to the confl icts and armed groups that have devastated the lives and livelihoods across the whole of Lake Chad region. It is like an opportunistic infection, which is largely taking advantage of an already weak body from underlying problems of environmental degradation, related droughts, low investment in rural development and limited employment and livelihood opportunities for young men and women. We need to work on the symptoms by restoring peace and treat the disease by making the body stronger. Th is is all about resilience,” Graziano da Silva stressed. More than 1 million returnees and the majority of internally displaced people in areas which have recently become relatively strifefree, have access to land and may benefi t from the forthcoming rainy season starting in May 2017 should suffi cient agriculture support be provided

. “Protracted confl ict has eroded coping capacities, exhausted livelihoods and left people with no way to feed themselves and their families. Agriculture cannot be an afterthought. More than 80 percent of people rely on farming, fi shing and herding for their livelihoods,” the FAO Director-General said. Graziano da Silva met local farmers on several FAO supported farms in Gongolong and Old

Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State. He was accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh. More than 1.16 million people will receive assistance from FAO in the coming months across the most aff ected areas of the Lake Chad Basin region as the UN agency and partners move to scale up their work. Key activities include the distribution of cereal seeds, animal feed and the provision of cash transfers and veterinary care. Th is will enable displaced farmers and voluntary returnees to get a substantial harvest and replenish their food stocks, and to prevent animal losses among vulnerable herders. Graziano da Silva noted how many people have lost their harvests and productive assets for up to three consecutive seasons.

Th is has left them extremely food insecure and with a drastically reduced purchasing power. Livestock has been looted or abandoned, irrigation infrastructure destroyed, and extension services and markets have collapsed in many areas.

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