More than one million hectares of degraded land have been reclaimed across 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory under the World Bank-supported Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project.
The achievement was disclosed on Monday by the project’s Task Team Lead, Dr Joy Iganya Agege, during the Additional Financing Pre-Appraisal Mission held in Bauchi.
Agege said the land restoration efforts were part of ACReSAL’s broader interventions aimed at reversing environmental degradation, improving agricultural productivity and strengthening the resilience of communities to climate change.
She said the project had also contributed significantly to poverty reduction, with about 41 per cent of farmers recording improved incomes as a result of ACReSAL interventions.
“We want to reclaim more hectares beyond the over one million hectares that have been reclaimed, and this is why we are here,” she said.
The Task Team Lead explained that the proposed additional financing was aimed at expanding successful interventions rather than changing the existing project design.
“Typically, when most projects are going for additional financing, they change the design because it didn’t perform very well. But in the case of ACReSAL, we are not changing the design. We are scaling up,” she said.
She said the scaling-up programme would target more communities and expand the number of beneficiaries reached by the project.
Agege also praised Bauchi State for its performance, saying the state’s implementation of ACReSAL had attracted special attention from the World Bank.
She commended Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed for supporting donor-funded programmes and described him as one of the governors who had demonstrated strong understanding of the requirements of development partnerships.
The National Project Coordinator, Abdulhamid Umar, said the project had recorded strong results in restoring degraded landscapes across its areas of operation.
According to him, ACReSAL was established to mitigate the effects of climate change, improve agricultural production and protect crops while enhancing food security.
Umar said the positive performance of the project had encouraged the World Bank to consider additional financing.
He explained that Bauchi was chosen to host the pre-appraisal meeting because it was among the best-performing states under the programme.
“Bauchi happens to be one of our best-performing states as far as ACReSAL is concerned,” he said.
