NO fewer than 110 women farmers have received training in modern yam farming techniques in Maiduguri, as part of efforts to boost yam cultivation in the desert-prone areas of the state.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was organised by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, a Borno-based agricultural merchandise firm, LADISGLO, and Rep. Kadiri Rahis, lawmaker representing Maiduguri constituency in the House of Representatives.

Alhaji Musa Umar, the Director of Agriculture in the ministry, said that the training was designed to expose the women farmers to modern skills that would develop their enterprising skills and boost commercial production of yam.

He said that studies had shown that the state was endowed with fertile land that was suitable for yam production in spite of the growing menace of desert encroachment.

“Studies have indicated that 11 local government areas of the state are good for yam cultivation despite certain challenges such as low volume of rainfall and desert encroachment.

“It is good for farmers to begin planting their crops in May,” he said.

Umar said that the ministry, in collaboration the lawmaker and LADISGLO, had also trained 240 youths and women in agricultural business so as to enhance their entrepreneurial skills.

He said that the beneficiaries were provided with complete sets of spray kits which included as knapsack sprayers, rain boots and jackets.

He said that the gesture was to control pests and revive the means of livelihoods of farmers who were hitherto displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Also speaking, Rahis said that he procured the spray kits for distribution to unemployed youths and women so as to enable them to engage in productive activities.

The lawmaker, who was represented by Alhaji Al-Amin Umara, said that that the gesture was part of the preparations toward the forthcoming cropping season.

One of the beneficiaries, Hajia Zara Abba, commended the project sponsors, saying that the training and equipment would go a long way to boost the women farmers’ agricultural production and socio-economic well-being.

– Apr. 5, 2018 @ 16:09 GMT

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