As part of its commitment to bolstering food security in the region, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (ARAA), is handing over Sheep Kits and Cattle Feed to households in Kebbi state of Nigeria on the 8th of August 2020.
The donations event taking place in Kangiwa, which is in the Arewa Local Government Area of the state is meant to bring succour to the vulnerable families whose livelihoods, as agro-pastoralists are tied to the farms of the area.
The hand-over ceremony which is being organized by the Association for the Promotion of Livestock in the Sahel and Savannah (APESS), buttresses further, the desire of the regional group to increase the productive capital of family farms. The gesture is also part of the broader initiative allowing stakeholders working in the field of food security and poverty alleviation (Non-Governmental Organisations, organizations of agricultural producers and breeders, state structures and other associations) in ECOWAS countries to implement innovative actions in the field of social safety nets for food security. The project which is regional in scope and covers Nigeria, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and the Gambia, aims to contribute to securing the livelihoods and reducing the vulnerability of livestock breeders and agro-pastoralists in deficit. Apart from providing productive capital like small ruminant kits, poultry kits and zoo-technical inputs to vulnerable livestock farmers and agro-pastoralists, the project also facilitates the implementation of the “grant transfer” system. It falls within the framework of the operationalization of the Regional Agricultural Policy with financial support of the Spanish Cooperation for the implementation of the Agricultural Policy Support Project (ECOWAP/CADP).