The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, on Wednesday, said the Federal Government has disbursed N12bn to 9,648 beneficiaries in 135 communities across 15 states through the Community Revolving Fund Programme.
Lawal, who disclosed this in Abuja at the seventh edition of the 2025 ministerial press briefing, noted that the fund is to strengthen the agricultural value chain, which covers all steps from production to selling food products.
He highlighted the progress made so far in fighting climate change in northern Nigeria by restoring land and supporting rural communities through financial aid to improve farming and related livelihoods.
The minister said, “The Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes project is a multi-sectoral initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria in collaboration with the World Bank seeking to address some of the critical climate change challenges in the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.
“The project is multi-sectoral and multi-level in nature and has on its steering committee the Federal Ministry of Environment as Chair, Federal Ministries of Water Resources and Sanitation and Agriculture and Food Security as its Co-Chair, as well as other relevant ministries, departments and agencies at both national and sub-national levels.
“The key achievements of the project include the restoration of 178,235 hectares of degraded lands across 19 Northern states and the FCT; disbursement of $8,625,000, equivalent to over N12bn, through the Community Revolving Fund to 345 communities across 15 states. As of 22nd March 2025, 9,648 beneficiaries (5,397 men and 4,251 women) have utilised these funds to enhance both on-farm and off-farm activities within the agricultural value chain, including production, processing, marketing, and storage;
“To address wildlife security and forest crimes, ACReSaL has supported the National Park Service with 11 patrol vehicles to improve and enhance forest management. ACReSAL also constructed six ranger posts across national parks, providing accommodation for rangers and strengthening their ability to safeguard forest assets; a total of 1,003,000 individuals have directly benefited from the ACReSAL project, with women accounting for 500,497 (49.9 per cent). Additionally, over 13 million indirect beneficiaries have been recorded by the project.”
He noted that ACReSAL has procured and distributed 245 tractors and 1,450 hand power tillers to 56,873 farmers across the participating states, boosting agricultural productivity, reducing manual labour, increasing efficiency, and enhancing soil fertility.
He said the project has helped to distribute drought-resistant seedlings, organic fertilizers, and other farm inputs such as solar irrigation pumps, knapsack sprayers, and harvesting crates to farmer groups and Community Interest Groups in Sokoto, Benue, Plateau, Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Niger, Jigawa, Yobe, Zamfara, Adamawa and FCT A total of 56,873 farmers (33,489 Men and 23,384 Women) have benefited;
“ACReSAL and the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics signed a historic agreement to conduct Nigeria’s largest agricultural survey under the 50×2030 initiative. The aim is to bridge critical agricultural data gaps in Nigeria,” he added.
