The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has given a breakdown of its five-year strategic Programming Framework for Nigeria, spanning between 2018 and 2022.
Its Country Representative in Nigeria Suffyan Koroma said in a press statement in Abuja that the framework was to assist Federal Government develop its agriculture sector.
He listed some of the priority areas to include strengthening national food and nutrition security through enhanced nutrition sensitive and climate-smart food systems; supporting appropriate and effective agricultural policy and regulatory frameworks.
Others are supporting Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda and the promotion of decent employment for youth and women in the agriculture value chains.
It included improving the efficient and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems and enhancing disaster risk reduction, resilience building and emergency management towards strengthening the humanitarian-development nexus.
Koroma said the framework would ensure efficient management of the country’s natural resources.
He spelt out a set of medium-term support objectives and results as approved by the FAO’s Regional Office for Africa (RAF).
According to him, the areas of action were defined in consultation with government ministries, agencies and departments (MDAs), as well as related stakeholders from academia, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and private sector.
Koroma said FAO also considered the humanitarian needs of Nigeria, as contained in various development strategies the government had put in place.
He said they included the Agriculture Promotion Plan (APP) and President Muhammadu Buhari’s Plan for humanitarian relief and socio-economic stabilisation of the Northeast.
The FAO chief said during the period, FAO would bring together innovative, international best practices and global standards with national and international expertise.
He said the document was built on the achievements of the previous programming cycle from 2013 to 2017, taking into account the emerging challenges of climate change, armed conflict and rising food prices.
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