L-PRESS Trains Bauchi Agric Officers To Enhance Food Security, Promotes Agric Practices

By Khalid Idris Doya

Participants of the One Health Approach training in Bauchi have been tasked to strategize actionable plans that will protect the state’s communities, enhance food security and promote sustainable agricultural practices in Bauchi.

Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, who made the plea in Bauchi, said that the training is a significant step in the right direction to provide the state with the platform to share knowledge, align strategies, and strengthen partnerships for maximum derivable benefits.

He spoke at the opening ceremony for the training on One Health Approach for veterinary officers, paravets, community health workers and environmental health workers on disease monitoring and investigation, and the national action plan on health security (NAPHS) implementation organized by L-PRESS Bauchi Coordination office.

The Governor who was represented by the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof. Simon Madugu Yalams, said that the objective of the training is to equip participants with the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct integrated surveillance activities that encompasses human, animal, and environmental health.

He said: “Agriculture, as a key pillar of our economy and as bedrock of “My Bauchi Project Agenda”, is not just about food production; it is about ensuring that our food systems are resilient, safe, and sustainable.

“To achieve this, we must work collaboratively across sectors, bringing together experts in public health, veterinary medicine, environmental science, and all other relevant fields, sectors and value chains.”

For his part, the state project coordinator of L-PRES, Musa Adamu, said the objectives of the project are to improve productivity, commercialization and resilience of targeted livestock production systems and to strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to emergencies.

Added that the training is aimed to educate participants on the principles of the one-health approach and its significance in disease monitoring and investigation bearing in mind the need for all stakeholders to make use and have equal access to the Emergency Operating Centers (EOC) domiciled within the state.

Musa further said the project needs to enhance understanding of collaborative investigation methods for potential disease outbreak and their impact on human and animal population as well as promote effective communication and collaboration among various stakeholders involved in one-health initiatives in the state.

Other objections according to him to build participants’s capacity in qualitative approach towards hazard identification, One Health risk estimation, assessment, management, and communication to identify critical interface spots for diseases pathogen spillover and draw up emergency preparedness and response plan cutting across the tripartite One Health structure within Bauchi state.

“We want to revive state level One Health technical working groups that cut across the tripartite One Heath structure within the state and to expose participants to their basic requirements and responsibilities as clearly contained in the NAPHS 01.

“It will interest you to know that the project has taken into consideration the need to strengthen one health platform to address emerging, re-emerging zoonotic diseases and other climate health related issues as enshrined in sub-component 1.3, hence the need to call for this training,” Musa concluded.