The country advocacy manager, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Sabiu Shehu has raised grave concerns over the non-availability of planting seeds for rural farmers in the country.
The Norwegian Refugee Council is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee and providing life saving and long term assistance to millions of people every year.
Shehu stated this during the NRC advocacy campaign workshop for Agricultural seeds and women’s Housing Land and property Rights held in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
According to him, the campaign focused on two critical issues that directly impacted vulnerable populations: promoting access to quality agriculture seeds for small-scale farmers and ensuring women equitable access to Housing, Land, and property (HLP).
He explained that the essence of the campaign is to ensure that the voices of the affected communities are heard and practical solutions are also identified to address these pressing issues.
Meanwhile, one of the facilitators Sunday Ndaka from the State Ministry of Land Survey and Town Planning spoke on the rights of girls and women having access to land and property.
Participants were drawn from various stakeholders which included farmers, traditional leaders, the academia, journalists and Civil Society Organizations (CSO) to discuss issues related to Agricultural seeds as well as women’s access to farmlands to ensure food security.
They also identified drivers of this process to include farmers, traditional and religious leaders, heads of Agricultural Units and Departments, the Executive and Legislative arms of Government and the media.
Participants further called for the establishment of a seed trust Fund where one per cent of profit should be channelled to ensure food production
Again they also recommended more awareness and mobilisation of farmers, seed research funding, establishment of State seeds Bank among others.
