A delegation comprising members from the Government of Niger, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and Qatar Charity recently took part in the visits that covered farms in seven villages aided by Qatar Charity during 2014. All parties represented in the delegation place great importance on irrigated agriculture support for small farmers, helping lift them out of poverty and achieve food security for the country, which suffers from constant food crises. In light of this priority, the government established an initiative under the slogan ‘Nigerian feed Nigerians’ overseen by a ministerial department, which seeks to utilize government resources and coordinate with stakeholders and partners to support agriculture, uniting efforts in working in the interest of small farmers.
The minister in charge of the initiative, Amadou Gallo, explained that over the past month he has organized visits to some of the villages of Tillabery, which included a delegation of the minister in charge of the initiative of the head of state, a representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Niger, the Director of Qatar Charity Niger, as well as local authorities and heads of villages in the areas of the visits.
The visit covered seven agricultural sites, met the farmers and witnessed the effects of the support provided, hearing their impressions of the project as well as the problems that they still face and which they hope to overcome in the future.
“I can only express pleasure at what I have seen of the good effect of the aid provided by the government and its development partners on the lives of people in the villages,” said Gallo. “We now seek to multiply these efforts annually; to include other villages and wider agricultural areas, and I made sure that the people understood well the goal of the government and its partner organizations, to do everything in our power to continue this work, which is not devoid of shortcomings and difficulties, and that we will work to overcome these difficulties in order to achieve the best results in the coming years,” Gallo added.
Representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Amadou Ouattara, said, “The core of this organization's mission is to support the government to achieve food security, and I have confirmed today, through this visit, that what we offer is beneficial but that we need to do more.”
