Musa Na Allah, Sokoto
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in partnership with the French Government, is intensifying its food and nutrition assistance initiatives in Sokoto State.
Beginning in March 2025, FAO has rolled out key interventions, such as the distribution of Tom Brown—a locally produced, nutritious supplementary food—at Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP) and Outpatient Therapeutic Program (OTP) centers.
Additionally, the program includes the distribution of homestead gardening kits containing fast-maturing seeds for nutritious crops, alongside the establishment of school gardens in Rabah and Tangaza Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The intervention, titled “Provision of Food and Nutrition Assistance to Vulnerable Households Including Women and Children in Northern Nigeria,” is being implemented across Sokoto and the BAY (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe) States.
The project aims to bolster food security and improve nutrition among vulnerable groups, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding women, girls, and children under five.
The initiative focuses on increasing access to nutritious food while promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
According to the March 2025 Cadre Harmonisé (CH) analysis, 24.9 million people in Nigeria are projected to experience Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity between March and May 2025.
This number is expected to rise to 30.6 million between June and August 2025, with 1.2 million people facing Emergency levels of food insecurity, which are marked by severe malnutrition and high mortality rates.
The worsening situation is primarily driven by ongoing insecurity, including insurgency, kidnapping, and banditry, which disrupt livelihoods and obstruct access to essential food supplies.
Additionally, widespread vulnerability has greatly diminished households’ capacity to cope with these shocks. The most severely affected areas include parts of the northeast (Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states) and northwest (Katsina, Zamfara, and Sokoto states), where an estimated 4.6 million and 5 million people, respectively, are expected to face critical food insecurity during the lean season.
Alarmingly, 83 percent of those projected to experience Emergency (Phase 4) food insecurity are concentrated in these two regions.
In Sokoto, FAO is working alongside the Sokoto State Ministry of Health, through the State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SSPHCDA), to distribute 21 metric tons of Tom Brown to 1,750 children aged 6 to 59 months who have recently recovered from Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) at TSFP/OTP centers.
Tom Brown provides a vital nutrient source, easing the transition to regular family meals and preventing the relapse of acute malnutrition.
This effort complements the World Food Program’s (WFP) support in managing MAM cases within the community.
FAO ensures continuity of care by supplying Tom Brown to children who have been treated for MAM, thereby supporting recovery and bridging the gap between treatment and long-term nutritional well-being.
To further improve food security and raise nutritional awareness, FAO has partnered with the Sokoto State Ministries of Agriculture and Basic and Secondary Education to establish school gardens in four selected schools across the state.
These gardens will serve as educational platforms to foster agricultural knowledge, practical gardening skills, and nutrition awareness among schoolchildren.
The schools benefiting from this initiative include Government Day Secondary School Rabah in Rabah LGA, Government Day Secondary School Gumbi, Government Day Secondary School Kalambaina in Wamakko LGA, and Government Girls Day Secondary School Tangaza in Tangaza LGA.
To support irrigation and enhance productivity, FAO has also distributed vegetable seed kits, tools, and treadle pumps to these schools.
Additionally, FAO is distributing homestead gardening kits to 3,000 vulnerable female-headed households in Borno and Sokoto States, helping to ensure a sustainable supply of fresh, nutritious food.
These kits include short-maturing vegetable seeds, such as amaranthus, okra, cabbage, carrot, sorrel, and orange-fleshed sweet potato vines, along with essential tools like watering cans and hoes.
Since early March, schools and households have received training in tree planting and crop cultivation.
As part of this initiative, participants have been supplied with five improved fruit tree varieties—including mango, citrus, guava, cashew, and moringa saplings— to encourage long-term agricultural sustainability.
FAO will also provide homestead gardening kits, including seeds and farming tools, to an additional 1,300 female-headed households in targeted communities.
FAO Representative ad interim in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Koffy Kouacou Dominique, will lead a mission from March 20 to 22, engaging with government and community stakeholders, as well as civil society organizations, to strengthen partnerships and enhance collaboration.
His visit will provide an opportunity to assess the progress of these interventions and ensure their sustainability in Sokoto State.
