NALDA mega farm initiative to lift 100,000 people out of poverty

The National Agricultural Land Development Authority says its ongoing Renewed Hope mega farms estates in Kwara and Ekiti will lift no fewer than 100,000 people out of poverty. It said the project would also create 12,000 direct jobs, 30,000 indirect jobs. The executive secretary of NALDA, Cornelius Adebayo, said this on the sidelines of an event organised by the organisation at CoP30 and MoU signing ceremony in Belem, according to a statement on Thursday. He identified the estates as one of the organisation’s flagship projects under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu. He said they were large-scale agricultural settlements covering between 5,000 and 25,000 hectres.

Mr Adebayo said the pioneer estates had begun in Ekiti and Kwara with over 1,200 hectares and 1,050 hectares under cultivation. He said the agency’s carbon-credit initiative is not only a climate solution but also a socio-economic reform that empowers farmers. Mr Adebayo explained that under the Mega Farm Estates, each farmer is allocated five hectares of farmland. He said that this would enable them to earn sustainable agricultural income while also benefiting from a share of carbon credit revenues generated through structured tree-planting and estate-wide reforestation. “Our goal is to move Nigerians from a low-income bracket to a true middle-class economy by combining agricultural productivity with carbon-credit earning, farmers can become independent, prosperous and globally competitive.

These estates are fully mechanised, equipped with complete infrastructure such as roads, irrigation systems, processing hubs, housing, and energy systems to function as full agricultural settlements. As part of their sustainability framework, each estate will receive comprehensive perimeter fencing, along which NALDA will plant thousands of climate-resilient trees capable of generating significant carbon credits over time. This ensures that beyond food production and job creation, farmers within these estates can earn additional income from carbon markets, allowing them to transition from low-income status into the middle-income economy,” he said.

Mr Adebayo said the event provided a platform for Nigeria to share its contributions to global climate solutions, exchange knowledge with partners and strengthen collaboration on nature-based approaches that support mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable land use. He said that over the years the NALDA’s operational mandate was expanded to directly align with Nigeria’s climate commitments by integrating afforestation, reforestation, sustainable land management, and biodiversity enhancement into its plantation programmes. Mr Adebayo said that NALDA’s plantations across different ecological zones represented one of the most promising nature-based climate assets in Nigeria. “They hold the potential to generate high-integrity carbon removals, attract climate finance, and empower thousands of young people and rural farmers. Our presence at CoP30 is to spotlight these transformational efforts and outline the ambitious NALDA Plantation Carbon Roadmap,” he said. NAN