No fewer than 68,389 households in Katsina State were selected across five security front-line Local Government Areas (LGAs) to benefit from Ukrainian wheat support.
The support is coming from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), through the Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGF).
Inugurating the distribution on Thursday in Kurfi LGA, Dr Hakeem Ajibola, the WFP representative, said the benefiting areas were: Kurfi, Batsari, Dutsin-ma, Safana and Danmusa.
He said the project was aimed at providing food assistance to vulnerable populations in Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto States, to cope with the 2024 lean season and also to monitor the crisis in the areas.
Ajibola said that the activities of armed bandits in the North-West, like attacks on farmers and farmlands, have undermined food cultivation and harvest, leading to regional food shortages.
According to him, the activities have destroyed thousands of farmlands, or made them inaccessible, and thousands of cattle and sheep are rustled.
He addtd , “Due to scarcity emanating from the decline in food production, basic food prices have skyrocketed.
“Therefore, there is a need to pay attention to food production, distribution, accessibility, affordability, and consumption in northwest Nigeria and beyond.
“The Ukrainian Wheat distribution project aims to contribute to the food needs, well-being, and resilience of the affected population in five LGAs in Katsina, increasing humanitarian needs occasioned by the persistent banditry and conflict in the Northwest region of Nigeria.
“AYGF with the support of WFP and other partners will distribute 1,963 metric tons of wheat to 86,389 beneficiaries inculcating IDPs, women-led households, girls, PWDs and youths.”
Dr Arome Salifu, the Executive Director of AYGF in Katsina said that they have been in the state for about three years, providing different support across 16 local government areas.
He explained that the Ukrainian wheat support was expected to reach the most vulnerable people across the selected LGAs, which were mostly security front-line areas.
“Each beneficiary is expected to receive three and half measurements of wheat.
”For example, if a man is having 10 children and a wife, each of them will receive the same as mentioned,’ Salifu said.
He explained that the support would last for three months, across the benefiting areas, saying that the wheat could be used in making over seven different varieties of food, including nutrition.
The Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Dikko Radda, Maryam Sodangi, commended the gesture, adding that it had complemented the state government’s poverty alleviation programmes.
Sodangi, also the Chairperson, Task Force Committee on the distribution, added that the support would go a long way in reducing hunger in the state.
She said, “it will also enhance agricultural activities and improve productivity in the state.”
The Madakin Katsina, Alhaji Hamza Abubakar-Duwan, who represented the Emir of Katsina, while commending the organisations, called on the beneficiaries to make good use of the wheat in their houses. (NAN)
