The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has organised a 3 day training for the youths and women on value chain processing and packaging.
The training, sponsored in collaboration with the State government’s Agricultural Development Programme, ADP, was aimed at repositioning farmers to maximize profits in the sector.
The event trained participants on selected value chains such as cassava, tomato and yam was held in the ADP hall with no fewer than 50 farmers’ drawn from each of the 21 Local Government Areas of State in South-Eastern, Nigeria
Speaking , the State Commissioner For Agriculture, Dr Forster Ihejiofor, described the event “aimed at educating farmers on value addition to their primary products for overall reformation of the agric sector as apt.”
While outlining the benefits of the training, he urged participants to make effective use of knowledge garnered to add much needed value to guarantee food sufficiency.
Chief Agric Engineer, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Nnaemeka Eze, who represented the Minister of Agriculture and food supply said, “the training ongoing in the six geopolitical zones is to enable farmers see agriculture as business.”
He urged the participants, especially youths and women, to effectively utilize the opportunity.
The State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Awka, Arthur Mbuba Programmes Manager, Anambra State Agriculture development, Jude Nwankwo and other resource persons x-rayed value chains processing, packaging, value addition and utilisation.
Appreciating the organisers, the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the Nigerian and state governments for the gesture, describing the training as an eye opener.