Agriculture
THE Federal College of Agriculture (FCA), Ibadan and EMRAJ Global Services Limited has trained 100 persons, including youths and women, on the different agricultural value chain.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the participants, from across the country, were trained on food crop processing and preservation, production of bread as well as production and processing of fruits and vegetables.
The training also focused on the production of cereal (rice), legume (cowpea) and high-quality cassava flour, tapioca and starch.
Speaking at the opening of the five-day training on Monday in Ibadan, the FCA Provost, Dr Elizabeth Augustus, said that it was sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
Augustus expressed joy that despite the decline in resources and the difficulties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government still ensured that the country was food secured.
She also commended the federal government for ensuring that youths were gainfully employed by releasing funds to organise such an empowerment programme.
According to her, aside from the awards of diplomas, the college also runs vocational training courses and outreach programmes for farmers in selected villages and students in secondary schools.
She added that the college had trained no fewer than 4,000 youths over the years on the different agricultural value chain.
“We sincerely appreciate the federal government and the contractor of this capacity building for giving us the opportunity to organise this programme.
“We assure you that the assignment will be executed with a high sense of responsibility,” she said.
Also speaking, the Chief Consultant of EMRAJ, Dr Abdulrasak Raji, said that the training was to create jobs, make people self-sufficient and improve their standard of living.
Raji, represented by Prof. Boye Omole, one of the training consultants, said that the company conducted training for farmers on the different agricultural value chain.
“Some of the major problems of agriculture in Nigeria are post-harvest storage, processing and value addition.
“Almost 70 per cent of households eat bread. So it is imperative to teach youths the processes involved in bread making, which can be a good source of income.
“Various processes and value addition of fruits and vegetables will be taught in the training. Our company is ready to partner with FCA to achieve our goal,” he said.
In her keynote address, the Managing Partner of Roned Farms, Ibadan, Mrs Ibirunke Edward, urged farmers to make getting their produce to the end-users in good condition top priority.
Edward advised cassava farmers, in particular, to always use an irrigation system, where necessary, to tackle the challenges of climate change.
“As a cassava farmer, the first thing you should do is to clear your land, prepare it and apply the best methods of planting possible. You may also inter-crop to increase your profitability,” she said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Vocational Training Committee, Dr Titus Ilori, said that the training would enable participants package food produce and add value to them to attract more business ventures.
“The potentials of agriculture are in the youth and not old people. Our agenda is to make agric a real business and not just ordinary farming.
“We thank the organisers of this programme and the provost for being passionate about agriculture and its development,” he said. (NAN)
– Mar. 8, 2021 @ 15:19 GMT |
Tags: Agric College firm train 100 youths on different agricultural value chain
