Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse
The Federal government under the ministry of agriculture has flagged-off the planting of over 400,000 ‘fertilizer tree’ known as (Gawo) in Jigawa state.
The campaign for the planting of the trees was embarked by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Speaking at the flag- off ceremony on Friday held at Kaya village of Garki local government in Jigawa state the minister of Agriculture Alhaji Sabo nanono said, the program is part of various federal government interrelated intervention aims at mitigating the effect of climate change.
The minister said, environmental protection, soil improvement, is one of the critical sector for sustainable agricultural development.
According to him, the fertilizer tree (Gawo) was scientifically proved to have a lot of potentiality in soil improvement and protection and in view of that, it was selected among the trees te o used by federal government campaign against soil degradation.
He called on States, Local governments and general public to join hand with government on tree planting and also fight against indiscriminate felling of trees.
In his speech the Jigawa state Governor Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar has promised to give all necessary support for the planting, nursing and protecting of the trees to achieve the desired goals.
Earlier in his welcome address the IFAD National Project coordinator Muhammad Lawan Idda said , the project is designed to be part of the federal government shelter belt that cut across seven states of the northern part of the country.
He said, 400,000 seedlings would be planted this year and 663 communities in 104 local government areas would benefit from the project.
He explained that, Gawo tree beside adding fertilizer to the soil, would serve as winds breaker, prevent desert encroachment and soil erosion.