UNDP, Borno distribute 5, 000 goats, sheep to IDP farmers
By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Borno State government has distributed 5, 000 goats and sheep to Internally Displaced Person (IPD) farmers in Pulka border community of Gwoza local council.A
The distribution of livestock is in line with the State’s 25-year Development Plan and the 10-point Strategic Transformation Agenda (STA).
Flagging off the distribution on Saturday in Pulka, the Deputy Governor, Umar Kadafur, disclosed: “The 2, 500 IDP farmers are to each get a pair of male and female goats and sheep for breeding to boost their production in curbing poverty and unemployment in the border communities with Cameroon.”
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He noted that the breeding of livestock could also raise the living standards of the IDP returnees.
Besides, he added that this is one of the strategies adopted with development partners to eradicate both poverty and unemployment in the State.
Kadafur, excited over the turnout of farmers, said: “The UNDP regional stabilization facility project; has yielded dividends of food security and job creation among the IDP returnees.”
He said that IDP farmers and pastoralists are from the border communities with Cameroon, including the ones from seven other communities displaced in the over a decade insurgency.
The Deputy Governor, therefore, called on the IDP farmers to take care and manage the 5, 000 distributed goats and sheep in changing their economic fortunes in the livestock sector.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR), Abba Yusuf said: “We distributed 3, 000 goats and sheep to 500 female beneficiaries with additional 200 to be distributed before the end of this year.
He said that the livestock were distributed to restore the livelihoods of displaced communities.
“This will also reduce their dependence on government handouts,” he said, noting the feeding of IDPs in camps could not be sustained.
