FG Appoints Balarabe as New FADAMA National Project Coordinator

Federal Government has approved the appointment of Malam Abdulrasaq Balarabe as the new National Coordinator of Fadama III AF.

Mr Bashir Dayyabu, the National Communication Officer, National Fadama Coordination Office, made this known in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

Dayyabu said that the announcement came through the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

According to the statement, Balarabe graduated from Usman Danfodiyo University with a BSc in Agriculture from 1987 to 1991 and MSc in Agricultural Economics.

He began his career as Agricultural Officer in the Federal Department of Agriculture from 1993 to 1996 and moved to Agricultural Project Monitoring and Evaluation Unit as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.

Balarabe later moved to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources Project Coordinating Unit as Assistant Coordinator.

He was Special Assistant to the Project Coordinator from 2014 and later became Agricultural Advisory Service Specialist.

Balarabe has a 20-year work experience in the agricultural sector such as planning, monitoring and evaluation and in the area of operations, support and advisory services coordinator of the project.

He also attended various international and local trainings and short courses to build strategic capacity to carry out technical responsibilities

Balarabe, according to the statement has since assumed office.

Fadama is the Hausa name for irrigable, low-lying plains underlain by “shallow” aquifers found along major river systems. The Fadama concept is an old tradition in Hausa, where flooded land is used for growing a variety of crops and small-scale irrigation.

This land is suitable for irrigation, fishing and providing feed and water for livestock.

The objective of The NFDP III is to increase the incomes of the farmers, reduce rural poverty, increase food security and contribute to the development of the Millennium Development Goals

In 1996, the World Bank described poverty in Nigeria as “widespread and severe.” Low per capita income, high unemployment, low industrial utilization capacity and high birth rates are some of the challenges the country is facing despite its vast resources. Low productivity in agriculture is another cause of the widespread poverty in Nigeria.

The National Fadama Development Project (NFDP) has been incorporated by the government to address the challenge of poverty in Nigeria. The project was started in 1990 and is now in its third phase. It is a $450 million project and is being implemented in 36 states and Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. Phase I and Phase II of the project helped to raise the incomes of rural farmers by 63 percent.

July 08, 2019