From: MAGNUS EZE, Abuja
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said it would collaborate with relevant agencies to ensure that returnee internally Displaced persons (IDPs) are safe and avoid coming in contact with un-exploded ordnance as well as have enough food to go round them.
FAO Director of Emergency and Rehabilitation Division, Mr. Dominique Burgeon, who was in Nigeria to assess the state of agricultural needs of IDPs, returnees and host communities, insisted that food was the most critical need of the region at the moment.
According to him, following the technical defeat of Boko Haram by the Nigerian military forces, some areas previously held by the insurgents had become more accessible and hundreds of thousands of people previously inaccessible were now within reach of the Government and humanitarian partners.
“The risk of unexploded ordnance and mines has been often raised as a limiting factor to return to work in the field. FAO is looking at collaboration with MAG (Mine Action Group) and all food security sector partners to identify the actual risk and take preventive measures. It is however to be underlined that, from preliminary information, this risk is limited and does not affect the ability to support the agricultural campaign. A risk education component will be added in FAO programming,” Burgeon stated.
The FAO Director, who said that IDPs were increasingly returning to their places of initial residence, further stated that the next rainy season would be the first real opportunity, in years, for farmers in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, to plant and restart agricultural production for self-consumption and markets.