VSF empowers 3,000 Borno farmers with agric inputs to boost food security, livelihoods
By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
The Victims Support Fund (VSF) of General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) has empowered 3, 000 farmers with agricultural inputs to boost food security and their livelihoods in Borno state.
According to the Fund, the farmers are from Ngala and Gwoza border Local Councils with Cameroon; and were affected in the over a decade Boko Haram insurgency.
Flagging off the distribution of inputs, on Tuesday, in Gambouru and Izge communities, Gen. Danjuma, represented by the VSF Executive Director, Prof. Nana Tanko, disclosed: “Our interventions are part of the 2023 project to support the Borno state agricultural initiative.”
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She added that the Fund has been working in the Northeast since 2014 by providing succour to victims of insurgency that returned to their liberated border communities.
Besides the support in agricultural sector, Nana stated that other interventions were in peace building, constructions, and livelihoods recovery.
In a breakdown of beneficiaries, the Executive Director said: “In the dry-season interventions, VSF is supporting 1, 800 farmers in Ngala local council, while 1, 200 farmers are targeted in Izge of Gwoza local council.”
She, therefore, announced that each farmer, will get a 25-kg bag of improved rice seeds, 50-kg bag of fertilizer, two litres of insecticides, a litre of herbicide, and a knapsack sprayer,
“Agricultural extension workers have been trained by VSF to guide the farmers in the Yedzaram River Basin of the two Local Government Areas,” she said, noting that the distributed inputs will add a lot of value to the farmers.
She urged the farmers to make good use of the inputs before the rainy season sets in by July this year.
Excited with the distribution of various inputs, Governor Babagana Zulum, represented by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Bawu Musami, said that the VSF had always been in the state in times of need.
“Today they are here again in the state to give full support to our IDP farmers to boost food security and livelihoods in communities.”
He noted that rained farming is no more sustainable due to the effects of climate change.
“The State government’s dire need; was to embark on massive irrigation farming to raise farmers’ incomes and livelihoods,” he said
He, therefore, urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the distributed farm inputs to boost food security and job creation among farmers.
so they have no doubt that the items brought will add a lot of value to the farmers.
She further urged the beneficiaries to use the inputs effectively to make sure they get the desired result at the end of the season.
The beneficiaries expressed joy and gratitude to VSF for providing them with the dry season farming inputs.
