Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The Enugu State Government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-industrialisation has organised a workshop on nutrition security for farmers as part of its modernisation initiative.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Patrick Ubru, while speaking at the event said the initiative was aimed at increasing production efficiency, promoting sustainable farming practices, and boosting overall food and nutrition security which would transform the State into a leading agricultural hub in Nigeria.
The capacity building workshop involved extension agents, women and young farmers and it was centered on food processing and packaging of grain crops.
Ubru, reiterated the government’s commitment to making Enugu the food basket of the nation through Agro-industrialisation.
He said: “The essence of this programme is to teach farmers how to make use of modern agricultural produce and nutrition security. The training is important because our desire is for the youth and women to be self employed by adding value to our agricultural products.
“This is the initiative of his excellency, Governor Peter Mbah to ensure that most of our agricultural produce do not damage so that we can avert post harvest losses.”
The Commissioner noted that through a strategic train-the-trainer approach, this innovative programme aims to establish a robust value chain that will not only boost local economic growth but also generate significant foreign exchange earnings.
“We want to create a chain of trained farmers who will in turn train others so as to expand the value chain. Our target is foreign exchange, which we want to produce for export.
“The training is a continuous process, we have started taking delivery of new tractors for test-run and more are expected to come in. While we are passionate about boosting agriculture in the state, we have zero tolerance for any activity or act that would sabotage the efforts of the government.
“Our goal is to restore the lost glory of Enugu as it was in the 1900s because we want to become the food basket of Nigeria in the near future,” he said.
