In a recent strategic move to equip farmers with the necessary skills and knowledge in regenerative agriculture, Adamawa State Government has established 21 regenerative agriculture demonstration farms in various local government areas across the state.
These farms aim to promote climate-smart regenerative agriculture, boost agricultural productivity, and enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, particularly in arid and semi-arid lands.
Regenerative Agriculture (RA) is a sustainable food production system that focuses on nurturing and restoring soil health, protecting the climate, water resources, and biodiversity, and increasing farm productivity and profitability.
By incorporating a range of techniques and innovative technologies, regenerative agriculture plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges posed by climate change.
The primary goals of regenerative agriculture include generating nutritious food for citizens, mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil, restoring threatened biodiversity, preventing deforestation, and enhancing farmer livelihoods.
Furthermore, the establishment of these demonstration farms and nurseries marks the initial phase of implementing integrated crops and livestock systems, offering economic opportunities for farmers and contributing to sustainable entrepreneurial activities.
In addition, the regenerative agriculture institute will play a pivotal role in creating agroforestry nurseries to improve tree growth, mitigate land degradation, and enhance resilience.
Following approval from the Adamawa State Government, the exercise has commenced in 21 local government areas, with a focus on implementing regenerative agriculture practices.
To ensure sustainability and inclusiveness, farm managers and their farmers have been actively engaged in the setup of the demonstration farms. Additionally, the capacity of the farm managers has been strengthened in regenerative agriculture and farm management, with a focus on providing training to household farmers and implementing effective monitoring systems.
During an inspection visit to the Regenerative Agriculture Demonstration Farm in Yola North recently, the Task Team Leader of the ACReSAL Project and Senior Environmental Specialist of the World Bank Nigeria office, leading a joint World Bank and FGN mission team, commended the state government for the innovative initiative.
She highlighted that Adamawa State’s ACReSAL project is set to implement regenerative agriculture practices on 250 hectares spread across the state. The state has already made available 20,000 seedlings in each of the local government areas as a starting point.
In addition, the Task Team Leader emphasized the need for adequate infrastructure to ensure the smooth running of the institutes within the state.
She also called for the database of all farmers enrolled and trained in the institutes and advised the ACReSAL Team in Yola to come up with a proposal for eco-system services using a community driven development approach on the Demo Farm.
The farmers expressed their gratitude to the State Government, World Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria for the laudable initiative by the ACReSAL Project, while noting that no project has recorded community buy-in and stakeholders’ participation like the ACReSAL project.
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