The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar has said that the Federal Government will welcome new ideas and initiatives geared towards providing good services to the people.
The Minister disclosed this recently when the World Bank-ACReSAL Team led by Dr Joy Iganya Agene and Engr. Anda Ayaba Yalaks visited him at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Headquarters in Abuja, today.
Dr. Mohammed said Nigeria need Data-Smart Agriculture and that the government is ready and willing to welcome partnership with the World Bank/ACReSAL on the 50×2030 initiative. He said that data is very important for planning and decision making, hence, the ministry and Nigeria need a harmonized data that can tell the number of small household farmers, application of fertilizers etc on yearly basis.
The Minister added that capacity building is very crucial to ensure that staff are equipped with requisite skills to produce and collect quality data. He therefore, gave his consent for the official launch of the 50×2030 initiative in Abuja in the month of April, 2023 saying it will bring the program closer to the people.
“ACReSAL is one of those projects I am really excited about, because it will bring more relief to the people of Nigeria, success of NEWMAP made us to request for ACReSAL, the project is more holistic in nature, is all about safeguarding the planet and landscape restoration” the minister stated.
Earlier, M Abul Kalam Azad, Lead-Program and Resources Mobilization, World Bank said the 50×2030 initiative is a 10-year, us$500 million initiative that aims to increase the capacity of 50 low and lower middle-income countries to produce, analyze, interpret, and apply data to decisions in the agricultural sector that support rural development and food security.
According to Azad, 50×2030 is implemented through a unique partnership between the world bank, food and agriculture organization of the united nations (FAO) and the international fund for agricultural development (IFAD).
He pointed out that each year, low and lower middle-income countries invest nearly one trillion dollars in agriculture, often without good evidence to inform those investments. this leads to suboptimal outcomes, causing losses in productivity, shortfalls in agricultural income and, ultimately, more hunger and poverty. the scarcity of high-quality, timely agricultural data makes it extremely difficult for policymakers to make sound decisions to drive their country’s economic growth and reduce poverty, so 50×2030 was developed to answer this need.
In her remarks, Dr. Joy Iganya Agene, Senior Environment Specialist World Bank and Task Team Leader ACReSAL said the 50×2030 is initiative is a trust fund account that is link to ACReSAL considering that we have huge data-gap in Nigeria, so the initiative will help countries especially Nigeria build strong national agricultural data systems that will in turn contribute to increased agricultural productivity and sustainable food production, which are crucial to alleviating hunger. indeed, 50×2030 survey models help meet the data needs of multiple sustainable development goals, especially goal 2 (zero hunger), as well as Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADPDN) Data Needs.
The Ag. National Project Coordinator, ACReSAL Engr. Anda Yalaks thanked the Hon. Minister for his effective leadership and effort in ensuring that Nigeria attend some level of food security and sustainability. He stated that the 50×2030 initiative is a very important input we need in ACReSAL for data production and use. He noted that the project will count on the minister’s continuous support and guidance.
