One Acre Fund Nigeria at the weekend flagged off the distribution of its 2024 Agroforestry trees to farmers, adding that it is an ambitious initiative aimed at distributing 6 million free tree seedlings to 220,000 farmers across Kwara, Nasarawa, and Niger states.

At the event, which took place at Pyata Gari village in Bosso Local Government Area of the state, the organisation described the occasion as a landmark event and a significant step towards sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation in Nigeria.

Speaking at the flag-off of the exercise in Minna, the Trees Lead of One Acre Fund Nigeria, Zainab Haruna, explained that the tree distribution aims to reduce the devastating effects of climate change in the state.

She stated, “We have seen changes in our lands as climate change continues to have negative effects on them by damaging nutrients within the soil and affecting rainfalls, among other challenges that our farmers face on a regular basis.

“We are offering this programme as a way to cushion them (farmers) from some of these effects and to ensure that they are able to continue to get a harvest from their farmlands while giving them alternative sources of income.

“The farmers will be able to harvest the trees when they reach maturity. Apart from the environmental benefits, which include protecting their lands from erosion, they will be able to sell some of the trees for furniture purposes, among other benefits that they can get from it.”

Haruna emphasised that the seedlings were given to farmers at no cost, urging them to nurture the seedlings well.

Also, in his separate remarks, the State Project Coordinator, Agro-Climatic Resistance Land Scale, Raji Shehu Adams, said the 19 Northern States and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, will be participating in the project. He highlighted that it’s a World Bank-assisted initiative spanning the northern region and Abuja.

Raji emphasised that the project’s development objective is to restore no fewer than one million hectares of land across the 19 Northern States and Abuja.

He added that this involves the participation of these states over the next six years, focusing on restoring approximately one million hectares of land through the distribution of tree seedlings, especially low-seed trees.

He pointed out that this initiative involves planting fruit-bearing and economic trees on farmers’ lands to aid in land restoration.

He stressed that even the leaves falling would increase nutrient levels for animal feed, highlighting that part of the organisation’s activities includes a livelihood enhancement programme.

This programme features community-revolving funds distributed among participating communities, with cooperatives comprising five to ten communities known as C.I.G.

Furthermore, he mentioned that approximately five communities will benefit from a fund of $25,000.00 aimed at improving farming practices.

He clarified that these funds will remain within the participating communities, revolving among themselves. These activities constitute the core initiatives of ACRESAL.