British Govt pledges to support smallholder farmers, combat deforestation in Nigeria

Olaseinde Gbenga – Abuja

To achieve a sustainable agricultural sector, the British government has pledged its support to help Nigeria fight deforestation and other environmental issues.

Catriona Laing, the British High Commissioner unveiled this during a courtesy visit to Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State.

Laing disclosed that efforts to support Nigeria in its quest to have sustainable land practices which will also rejuvenate the Agricultural ecosystem is being made by the British government.

She added that British government now aims at assisting Nigeria smallholder farmers and the support has been ongoing for the past five years.

“Deforestation is what concerns the British government and everything is being done to tackle it. We are concerned about preserving the forest to make sure that agriculture is generally viable in Nigeria. Every hectare has to count as far we are concerned,” she said.

Meanwhile, Graham Hefer, the Managing Director, Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc, pointed that the company was already providing the needed support to smallholder farmers.

Hefer noted that the company has made efforts to cluster and strengthen smallholder farmers, calling on the government and financial institutions to provide support to the farmers.

He said, “As a company, we’re already fulfilling our end of that bargain because we’ve already started bringing smallholders together as an association.

“We’ve already received from the middle of the year to now, more than 200 tons of FAB from smallholders that are working together with us on our programme.

“So, for these smallholders to grow, we need to work with them. Of course, we are not a bank, we do not finance projects, so banks and government need to come on board to make sure these businesses grow.

“The government must allocate land to the smallholder farmers and opportunities to get loans from banks. We can then access the crops, as well as assist with training.”