The Federal government has commended Green Sahara Farms for reviving the deforested areas in the country and its effort and activities towards regeneration of landscapes.
The Minister of State Environment Bar Sharon Ikeazor via her twitter handle (@sharon_ikeazor) also commended the farm for its commitment to regenerating forest area in the country via its Green Tree Thrift project.
The Green Tree Thrift project is a component of the Green Sahara Revolution in partnership with reforest action of France.
It would be recalled that the Prince of Wales and the circular bioeconomy alliance also recently acknowledged the farm for committing to implementing the Environment, Social and Governance Principles (ESG).
The farm over the past 10years has been working in Plateau, Nassarawa, Yobe and Kastina state to regenerate the deforested areas.
It has ensured that they improve on the environment where they grow crops rather than deplete it through indiscriminate farming techniques.
The Managing Director of the GSF Suleiman Dikwa stated that in its reforestation effort, the farm has been working with the Circular Bio-economy Alliance (CBA) to further propagate the regeneration of forest in the country.
Dikwa while speaking to newsmen in Abuja said in the 2021 they had planted 250,000 economic trees in the communities where they are working, adding that their plan is to plant 25million trees and lift about 84000people out of poverty.
According to him “Due to our commitment to ESG our purpose of operation is not only limited to making profit but also impacting the environment. ”
He said “Under the ESG, the farmers get more value for their crop and the environment is more protected. In essence we are making a commitment to pay our workers well, treat the farmers better.”
Dikwa stated that with the Green Tree Thrift program, farmers can earn a minimum of 3 Million annually through planting of economic trees, as GSF has been providing each household in the communities where they work with 300 nurseries to plant trees.
On how people can earn a minimum of N3 million yearly from planting trees, Dikwa explained a cashew tree produces a minimum of 20kg of fruit per tree, when multiplied by 300 trees, it gives six tonnes.
He said a tonne of Cashew in the local market is about N500,000, when multiplied by six tonnes, it gives N3 millionIf farmers are assisted to export, the price is a minimum of 1380 United States dollars.