Desert encroachment threatening eleven Northern States – NAGGW

The National Agency for the Great Green Wall, NAGGW, has raised alarm against desert encroachment threatening eleven Northern states in the country.

Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Malam Sale Abubakar, disclosed while speaking at the 10th anniversary celebration of the agency held in Dutse, the state capital.

He said, the region has been going through a lots of environmental problems in places like Borno, Yobe, part of Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina States, a situation that has aggravated the security situation in those states.

He said the agency has taken steps to address the problem, through distribution and planting of about 50 million date palm and other various species of trees in the affected states.

According to him “the plantations are there to combat desertification and mitigate the impending effects of climate change which the country has been experiencing in the past of years, especially in the far northern part of the country”

He explained that the date-palm planting initiative is part of their strategic efforts to combine economic development with the fight against environmental degradation.

He maintained that the 50 million date-palm seedlings will be distributed to women and youth to inform them of empowerment and plant it across 11 states over five years, starting with 5 million seedlings in 2025.

“Jigawa State, the leading producer of date palms, is targeted to receive 500,000 seedlings within this period and plant it , in collaboration with the government and the public,” he said.

“We chose date palms for this project because they are an economic tree, and their seeds can be used to produce various products beyond being consumed raw as food,” he added.

During the 10th-anniversary celebration, the agency will also launch an expanded public campaign promoting environmentally friendly activities, including using energy for powering machinery and cooking, mining, construction, agriculture, among others,” NAGGW Director-General stated.

Desert encroachment threatening eleven Northern States – NAGGW