Food security, why NDA?

The permanent site of Nigerian Defence Academic (NDA) is located on Mando in Afaka to Airport road in Kaduna. It covers a total 15,000 hectares of land, which has been of benefit to the people around the environment in terms of farming during the rain seasons.

This year will not be exceptional as it provides food security to the communities around the institution. Whatever may be the security challenge facing the land, which has been used by soldiers, ex-servicemen and the civilians for the past 50 years, there is need to modify the use of the land for the sake of time, than ban or stopping farming activities on it completely.

The benefits derived from the area by the farmers are more than the disadvantage. In the previous year’s, forms were provided to the farmers to be able to monitor the activities of farmers in the area, especially during the harvesting period, this minimises the stealing of farm produce by the hooligans.

Instead of stopping or banning farming in the area completely, the authority concerned can create ad hoc committee that would handle farming in their premises. The committee can engage some soldiers that would be involved in their services within the period; the famers would pay for the form and identity too.

Any farmer that would be in the farm has to provide his or her identity and pay a token of money for the service provided by those soldiers being deployed to the farm. They can equally create avenue for the farmers to know them, by forming a group of three to five farmers based on their farms’ proximity and neighbourliness. These groups should be meeting on weekends for discussion.

The management of the academy’s farm land should kindly consider the advantage of the farming as food security for the people and to meet the needs of their families.

Saidu Azi Suleiman, No 42, Rabah Road, Malali, Kaduna

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