The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) says it is developing 6,200 hectares of cashew, cocoa and oil palm plantations across four states to boost agricultural production, create rural employment and promote sustainable land use.
The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Mr Cornelius Adebayo, disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing delegates at the COP31 Climate Summit in Turkey.
Adebayo’s presentation was made available in Abuja.
He said the plantations comprised 1,500 hectares of cashew at Ilero-Babaode in Oyo State, another 1,500 hectares at Joga Orile in Ogun, 2,000 hectares of cocoa at Ifon in Osun and 1,200 hectares of oil palm at Omotosho in Ondo State.
He said the projects were being implemented under NALDA’s Community-Based Plantation Development Programme, designed to promote long-term tree-crop development, restore degraded landscapes and generate additional income for rural communities.
According to him, the plantations would also provide opportunities for carbon sequestration and position eligible agricultural assets for emerging climate-finance opportunities.
He said the agency was working towards systematically documenting, measuring and verifying the projects’ environmental contributions to qualify them for carbon-credit opportunities.
“These plantations are significant not only for their contribution to agricultural production and rural livelihoods but also for their environmental benefits.
“They provide opportunities for carbon sequestration, biodiversity enhancement, improved soil conditions and the restoration of productive landscapes,” he said.
Adebayo said the initiative reflected NALDA’s commitment to ensuring that agricultural land development contributed to food production, wealth creation, employment and climate-change mitigation.
He said that since COP30, the agency had become more deliberate in ensuring that agricultural development went beyond expanding cultivation and increasing food production to include climate-resilient farming systems.
He added that the initiatives aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, which prioritised food security, economic diversification, rural development and environmental sustainability.
Adebayo also disclosed that NALDA was developing Renewed Hope Mega Farm Estates across three states, covering 20,000 hectares.
He listed the locations as 10,000 hectares in Ekiti State, 5,000 hectares in Kwara and 5,000 hectares in Bauchi State.
He said the estates were being developed as integrated agricultural production systems, supported by access roads, irrigation facilities, water infrastructure, storage and processing facilities, farm hostels and other amenities.
According to him, the facilities would enable farmers to improve productivity and adapt to changing climatic conditions.
The executive secretary further disclosed that NALDA was working to secure a Letter of No Objection from the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) to facilitate the registration and commercialisation of eligible carbon credits from its plantation and agroforestry projects.
“This represents an important evolution in NALDA’s approach. We are moving beyond the traditional focus of achieving food sufficiency to deliberately creating agricultural assets that generate multiple streams of value.
“Our objective is to produce food, create wealth, generate employment, support rural economies and, at the same time, contribute meaningfully to climate change mitigation,” he said.
Adebayo said the agency had planted about 5,000 economic trees in selected locations under the first phase of its Youth Agroforestry and Climate Action Campaign.Read Economics
He said the second phase had commenced, targeting an additional 56,000 trees, while NALDA aimed to facilitate the planting of one million trees by 2030.
He added that the campaign was linked to the Green Hope Open-Field Horticulture Programme, which supported more than 5,000 women across about 38 locations nationwide.
According to him, the programme enabled the women to cultivate high-value horticultural crops, access productive land and participate in agricultural value chains.
Adebayo said sustainable agricultural practices could simultaneously support food production, create livelihoods and contribute to climate-change mitigation.
He reaffirmed NALDA’s commitment to expanding climate-smart agricultural practices, strengthening community participation and attracting climate finance, technology and technical expertise through national and international partnerships.
“Our vision is to demonstrate that agricultural land development in Nigeria can be commercially viable, environmentally responsible and socially inclusive,” he said.
(NAN)