Solidaridad Partners Kogi For Improved Palm Oil Production

By Augustine Adah

In its bid to improve the productivity of oil palm and the livelihood of smallholder oil palm farmers through climate-smart agricultural practices, the government of Kogi State has agreed to work with Solidaridad, a global non-governmental organisation, NGO.

After meetings and dialogue between officials of the state government and teams of Solidaridad, the government recently showed its commitment to the laudable initiatives of Solidaridad through an intent letter expressing its readiness to partner with Solidaridad in its capacity building initiatives of smallholder farmers in the state.

According to Dr. Samuel Ogallah, Solidaridad’s Senior Climate Specialist for Africa, the intent letter from the government of Kogi State shows the willingness of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kogi State to revitalize agricultural practices in the state for the benefit of the people.

To him, the state stands to benefit from the expertise of Solidaridad in the area of climate-friendly agriculture which the NGO has demonstrated around the world in the last 50 years of its existence.

He said, “The capacity of farmers will be enhanced through increased productivity and better livelihood, the project will build adaptive capacity and resilience to the impact of climate change, and with adoption of climate-smart technology, the emission of Green House Gas, GHG, will be reduced in their practices both at the farm and milling level.”

Dr. Ayode Arike Folashade, the Secretary to the Government of Kogi State, SSG, promised that the government will do whatever it takes to facilitate Solidaridad’s operations in the state. This is on the background that the goal of the government is to make Kogi State an agricultural hub of the nation. She assured that her office will facilitate the enabling environment for efficient execution of Solidaridad’s NISCOPS program in the State.

The Kogi State Traditional Council has also endorsed Solidaridad’s NISCOPS project in the state. His Royal Highness, Ujah Sani Simeon, the Enek’ojokpuche, and Chairman Olamaboro Local Government Traditional Council promised Solidaridad all the necessary support needed.

He assured that the NISCOPS programme in the state will alleviate poverty in his community and strengthen the participation of youths in the agricultural sector.

Having considered Nigeria as one of the major producers of palm oil in the West Africa sub-region, Solidaridad is presently executing its NISCOPS initiative in the states of Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, Cross River, and Kogi which are among the largest producers of oil palm in the country.

These states have the largest concentrations of independent smallholders, accounting for 89 percent of the palm oil production in Nigeria, and therefore provide a viable avenue to trigger smallholders’ embrace of sustainable climate-smart agricultural practices as the norm in oil palm production among the smallholders.

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