BRITAIN TO SUPPORT NIGERIA’S FIGHT AGAINST DEFORESTATION, ASSIST SMALLHOLDERS
The British government has pledged its support to help Nigeria combat deforestation and other environmental issues, aimed at achieving a sustainable agricultural sector.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, disclosed this during a familiarisation visit to Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State.
According to Laing, the British government is making efforts to support Nigeria in its quest to have sustainable land practices which will also revitalise the agricultural ecosystem.
She said the support has been ongoing for the past five years, adding that the British government now aims at assisting Nigerian smallholder farmers.
“Deforestation is what concerns the British government and everything is being done to tackle it. We are concerned about preserving the forest to make sure that agriculture is generally viable in Nigeria. Every hectare has to count as far we are concerned,” she said.
On smallholder support, the Managing Director, Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc, Graham Hefer, noted that the company was already providing the needed support to smallholders.
According to him, the company has made efforts to aggregate and empower smallholder farmers, calling on the government and financial institutions to provide support to the farmers.
He said, “As a company, we’re already fulfilling our end of that bargain because we’ve already started bringing smallholders together as an association.
“From August to now, we’ve already received more than 200 tons of FAB from smallholders that are working together with us on our programme.
“So, for these smallholders to grow, we need to work with them. Of course, we are not a bank, we do not finance projects, so banks and government need to come on board to make sure these businesses grow.
“The government must allocate land to the smallholders and opportunities to get loans from banks. We can then access the crops, as well as assist with training.”
(Agro NIgeria)
