{"id":124976,"date":"2026-01-14T05:54:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=124976"},"modified":"2026-01-14T05:54:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:54:55","slug":"benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/","title":{"rendered":"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Tracy Moses<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Benue State is set to pilot a State Strategic Food Security Plan in three local government areas as part of efforts to strengthen food security, climate resilience, and peace building across the state.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The initiative is being driven by the Nigeria Food Security Project (NFSP) through its Supply Chain Research and Innovation Hub (SCRIH) under the SPRiNG Project. It is designed as a three-month pilot programme to be implemented in Agatu, Logo, and Gwer-West Local Government Areas.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Project Coordinator of NFSP, Dr. Shalem Shiekuma, disclosed this during a Benue State stakeholders\u2019 consultative workshop organised by SCRIH and held in Makurdi on Tuesday.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Benue State, widely regarded as Nigeria\u2019s \u201cfood basket,\u201d has in recent years faced growing food security challenges caused by persistent farmer-herder conflicts, climate-induced flooding, displacement of farming communities, rising agricultural input costs, and disruptions to supply chains.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">These factors have significantly reduced productivity in several parts of the state, particularly in conflict-prone LGAs, worsening food shortages, livelihood losses, and humanitarian pressures.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Discussions at the workshop focused on reviewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining programme objectives, implementation strategies, and funding arrangements.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stakeholders also deliberated on the need to formalise collaboration with the Benue State Government through the Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant agencies to ensure effective implementation of the State Strategic Food Security Plan.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The proposed partnership aims to adopt integrated approaches to food security, climate resilience, and peace building. Key areas of collaboration include the development and validation of a State Strategic Food Security Plan through inclusive, multi-stakeholder engagement, as well as the rollout of pilot community-level interventions targeting resource governance, market systems, and inclusive livelihoods in the three selected LGAs.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Other components of the initiative include conducting a Conflict and Food Security Audit to identify the underlying drivers of food insecurity and conflict in the state, alongside an assessment of the selected LGAs and communities based on conflict incidence, agro-ecological conditions, and institutional readiness for pilot interventions.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking with journalists after the workshop, Dr. Shiekuma said the engagement was aimed at securing the buy-in of critical stakeholders who would play key roles in implementing the project.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cParticularly, we are in Benue to hold a consultation workshop with key stakeholders, including the Ministries of Agriculture, Women Affairs, Health, Youth and Sports, the Peace Commission, and other relevant government agencies,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to him, the project is designed to address food security challenges in Benue State through strategic planning, with a strong emphasis on peace building and resilience in communities affected by conflict.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe objective is to develop a strategic food security plan for Benue State that will be adopted by the state government and applied to other peace and resilience initiatives.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is a pilot phase aimed at identifying key issues before scaling up,\u201d he explained.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr. Shiekuma further clarified that funding for the pilot project would not come from the state government, noting that it is supported by SPRiNG, a UK Aid-funded initiative.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cOne of the major issues discussed was the MoU, including concerns around logistics, programme objectives, administration, and funding. Since this is a pilot phase, we are testing the framework, and the funding is provided by SPRiNG under UK Aid,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, the Benue State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Benjamin Ashaver, underscored the importance of stakeholder participation in achieving the project\u2019s objectives. He urged participants to contribute meaningfully to the discussions to ensure the successful implementation of the initiative for the benefit of the state.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tracy Moses Benue State is set to pilot a State Strategic Food Security Plan in three local government areas as part of efforts to strengthen food security, climate resilience,&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Tracy Moses Benue State is set to pilot a State Strategic Food Security Plan in three local government areas as part of efforts to strengthen food security, climate resilience,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T04:54:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T04:54:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/\"},\"wordCount\":591,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/\",\"name\":\"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T04:54:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs - Pointblank News","og_description":"By Tracy Moses Benue State is set to pilot a State Strategic Food Security Plan in three local government areas as part of efforts to strengthen food security, climate resilience,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2026-01-14T04:54:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":650,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs","datePublished":"2026-01-14T04:54:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/"},"wordCount":591,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/","name":"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-14T04:54:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Benue-State-map.jpg","width":650,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/benue-to-pilot-state-strategic-food-security-plan-in-three-lgas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Benue to Pilot State Strategic Food Security Plan in Three LGAs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124977,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124976\/revisions\/124977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}