FG Trains South West Farmers on New Innovative Skills in Farming

The Federal government has organized three days training workshop on farm demonstration, maintenance, harvesting and processing techniques for Southwest farmers and processors to move the country out of food insecurity.

The participants were drawn from all six Southwestern states of the country to improve food maintenance and processing in order to ensure food security in the country.

The programme was held at Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Oyo state.

While addressing the participants, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, who was represented by the South-West zonal director ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mrs Olayinka Akeredolu, said that it has become imperative for the government to provide adequate capacity building workshops among the selected women and youth farmers cooperative groups to equip them with necessary skills and knowledge to enable them properly harvest, process and package their products inline with the global best practices.

He further advised the participants to take advantage of the opportunities offered them by the Federal Government to improve the quality and standards of their products which will attract better market and premium value for them.

In his address, The director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Engr. Agad Abubakar, who was represented by Yahya Abubakar, decried the challenges of foods insecurity, severe malnutrition with which demand for food continue to increase.

He noted that it is important for the ministry to improve agricultural production to meet the demands and making food available and affordable for Nigerians.

One of the participants, Mr Ayo Olufemi called on federal government to put more money on Agriculture and rehabilitate the farming machines that has been moribund.

He further asked the government to create more policies that will cater for farmers in South-West states of the country to ensure food security in the country.

Statistics have revealed that significant quantity of food is lost both before and after storage with losses up to 20-30 percent of all grains and 30-50 percent of root and tuber crops, the losses were attributed to many factors among which is improper usage of farm machines, equipment, tools and harvesting techniques.

Thirty participants participated in the training and workshop for the farmers and after the workshop they were all taken to the field for the practical aspect of the usage of the machine and how to harvest and process food.