FG asks states to make land available for Agriculture

The National Agricultural Land Development Authority ( NALDA) has told the states' government that food increase synergy would not be achievable except they made legal lands available for community agriculture development.

At a press briefing held last Thursday at state House Villa, Abuja, the MD/CEO, NALDA, Engr. Cornelius Adebayo said that the provision of legitimate land by states' government would enhance increased food production on degraded forest reserves, stressed government cannot deplore economic resources on a land without certification.

Adebayo stressed that the government cannot invest public funds on land over which it has no legal control just as he emphasized that state governments must formally allocate land to NALDA so as to enable his agency to develop local communities in increased foods productivity.

"You cannot invest government resources on somebody else's land without proper control. That is why we are asking states to allocate land to NALDA so we can develop it for the benefit of the people," he said.

Adebayo explained that the NALDA Act empowers the authority to reclaim and develop suitable grazing reserves and forest reserves for agricultural purposes, saying many states had been written for  approval to take over the old forest reserves that have been left completely depleted.

According to him, such areas, many of which have become vulnerable to criminal activities and insecurity, can be converted into productive agricultural estates capable of creating jobs, boosting food production and attracting private investment.

The NALDA boss also revealed that some livestock companies had approached the Authority in search of land for large-scale feed production as part of their backward integration programmes added that Kwara state has signified interest in this.