In a bid to increase the implementation of sustainable landscapes management practices in targeted watersheds, Niger State Government through the World Bank Assisted Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL), has donated Sixty Seven Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty Five (67,255) Fruit Tree Seedlings to three Tertiary Institutions in the State.

The beneficiary Tertiary Institutions include the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, IBB University Lapai and the Federal College of Education Kontagora.

While handing over Twenty Five Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty Five(25,655) varieties of Low hanging fruits and economic tree seedlings to the Management of the FUT, the State Project Cordinator, Usman Garba Ibeto said the intervention was part of the State government’s deliberate effort to reclaim Sixty thousand hectares of degraded land in line with President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s marching order to Federal Ministry of Environment to reclaim Four Million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030.

The Project Cordinator who was represented by the Environmental Safeguard Officer, Shehu Adams Raji explained that Landscape restoration was part of the ACReSAL Project Development Objectives stressing that the intervention was captured under the “C” Component threshold of the Project implementation template.

“We have Component C where we are suppose to partner with various Institutions. Three Institutions were carefully selected from Niger State. We have FUT Minna, IBBU Lapai and FCE Kontagora ” Ibeto said.

He emphasized that the major concern of ACReSAL was to achieve maintenance and sustainability of all project interventions hence the decision to partner educational institutions of excellence including the FUT Minna.

Items donated includes Cocoa Nut, Cashew,  Banana and Plantain, Oil palm and Shea butter plants.