Farmers in Nigeria improve productivity through sustainable farming methods
25 July 2022
Project Name
Integrated Landscape Management to Enhance Food Security and Ecosystem Resilience in Nigeria
GEF Implementing Agency
UNDP
Objective
To foster sustainability and resilience for food security in Northern Nigeria through addressing key environmental and socioeconomic drivers of food insecurity across three agro-ecological zones.
Project Targets
land under integrated and sustainable management
GHG emissions avoided or reduced
beneficiary households
The Nigerian economy is dominated by the agriculture sector, which is the main source of livelihood for the majority of the population. However, multiple factors contribute to low agricultural productivity and resulting food insecurity, including limited use of irrigation and technology, high cost of farm inputs, and poor access to credit and markets.
Overharvesting of natural resources has led to increasing environmental degradation and high levels of deforestation in Nigeria. The challenges posed by a degraded environment will be further exacerbated by climate change, which is predicted to intensify the frequency of droughts and floods in Nigeria, with resulting crop and livestock losses, and further land and forest degradation.
The RFS Nigeria project supports a process of agricultural transformation in 70 communities in 14 Local Government Areas of northern Nigeria, and in three different agroecological zones: Guinea savannah of the north central region, Sudan-Sahel savannah of the northwest region, and Sudan savannah of the northeast region. The Theory of Change is based on the recognition that food security is the product of both socio-economic and environmental factors.
Addressing these factors requires both coherent policies and institutions that influence the ability of farming households to foster sustainable food security and tackling critical shocks in order to enhance the resilience of food production systems. A landscape approach, integrating resilience of land use systems, natural resource management and livelihood security, is of key importance.
The project is delivered through three interrelated components:
The project aims to meet the following targets:
Institutional and policy environment for achieving improved food security is enhanced.
Sustainable agricultural practices and market opportunities for smallholder farmers are scaled up.
An effective and functional monitoring, assessment and knowledge-sharing system is established.
The RFS Nigeria’s lead national partner is the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development who will chair the project steering committee. Other participating ministries include those in charge of the environment, water resources, women’s affairs, and budget and planning. State and local governments from the seven participating states are supporting the implementation of the project. In addition, CSOs, universities, and research Institutions are involved in advocacy, mobilisation, training, research, technical input and knowledge sharing.
Each RFS country project conducts activities that fall under common thematic areas within the programme. Explore each project theme relevant to the RFS Nigeria country project below to see which activities are being implemented under each theme.
Stories from the Field
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Relevant Resources
We have a growing library of reports, briefs, case studies, media, tools and guidelines. Explore all resources related to the RFS Nigeria project to get greater insight into our programme activities.
The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and its partners including World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), World Food Programme (WFP) and CIFOR-ICRAF host a side event at the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Case studies from three Resilient Food Systems (RFS) programme countries (Nigeria, Senegal and Burundi) and from IFAD projects in Cambodia demonstrate emerging lessons on integrated sustainable land and water management, and payments for ecosystem services in subsistence farming.
The RFS Nigeria project, Fostering Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in the Savannah Zones of Northern Nigeria, presents at the COP15 in Abidjan. The presentation touches on the themes of 'Land, Life, Legacy' adopted by the 2022 convention, presenting best practices and lessons learnt through project implementation.
On 5th October 2021, the RFS Annual Workshop series held an interactive session to put the gender-responsive framework into practice through the examples of two country projects, Eswatini and Nigeria, which have made a difference for women through gender-responsive project implementation. This learning note presents key insights from the event and summarises the constraining factors influencing women and men’s participation in each project, the activities and approaches integrated into project implementation to address the identified constraints, the main challenges faced and the main outcomes for women.