In a bid to transform agriculture into a sustainable economic drive in the Niger Delta region, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has reiterated its unalloyed commitment to agricultural empowerment by concluding the second batch of its Capacity Building Programme for Rice Farmers on Commercial Scale in Umuahia, Abia State.
The programme which was organized with the core of equipping farmers with essential skills in modern rice farming techniques, processing, and agribusiness strategies, would impact agricultural empowerment initiatives to enhance food security, create jobs, and alleviate poverty in the region.
NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, who addressed the audience during closing ceremony of the training programme at the Kolping Guest House in Umuahia Abia State, charged the participants to leverage their newfound knowledge to enhance rice production.
However, the commission’s MD, who was represented by the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries Dr. Winifred Madume, tasked beneficiaries of the programme to establish cooperatives, and explore further partnerships with relevant agencies and financial institutions.
Highlighting the commission’s ongoing collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, Ogbuku noted that the act will of a truth provide apprenticeship training for residents of the Niger Delta; revealing that the Commission would not relent in continues implementation of impactful agricultural empowerment initiatives to enhance food security, create jobs, and alleviate poverty of participants in the region.
Furthermore, Ogbuku enjoined participants to use the opportunity of this improved knowledge and skills acquired to contribute to the initiative of the Federal Government to boost rice production and processing.
According to the Deputy Director of Agriculture & Fisheries, Mr. Wale Oretan, he disclosed that the training programme which covered both theoretical and practical aspects of rice production, processing, and entrepreneurship recorded 300 farmers from Abia and other Niger Delta states.
Oretan admonished beneficiaries of the programme to apply their knowledge effectively and reinvest the empowerment support packages they received into their enterprises.To this effect, each participant received a starter pack worth ₦200,000.00, along with a certificate of completion.
Also speaking, the President of the Abia State Rice Farmers Association, Mrs. Uzoma Charity Ochulo, who demonstrated a heart pleasure on behalf of the beneficiaries, appealing for same training programme to be introduced in their various communities.
In the same vein, the training coordinator at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Professor Lovina Odoemelam, having hinted on the importance of beneficiaries utilizing resources wisely to achieve economic self-reliance, praised the commission for its efforts and noted that for the initiatives of the participants to be sustained, commission must engaged on a follow up training.
