Abia State Project Coordinator, LIFE-ND, Dr. Uchenna Rowland Onyeizu
The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises, Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) Project Coordinator in Abia State says the six-day Agric Business Development Orientation training organized for her beneficiaries and partners (incubatees and incubators) ended successful. He noted that the Project remains an initiative of Federal Government of Nigeria, Participating state governments, Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) and International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD) in the Niger Delta region to build skills and empower our young persons, women headed households and physically challenged in Morden agribusiness practices. This intends to achieve the project’s objectives of enhancing income, food security and job creation for rural youth and women through agribusiness enterprise using the incubator/ incubatee model.
At the training, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Incubators, LIFE-ND project and the Incubatees(trainees) who were expected to come with their guarantors because of the huge investment the project is entrusting in them.
Speaking with journalists at the Kolping Society hall in Umuahia the Abia state capital, the Project Coordinator, Dr. Uchenna Onyeizu, said he is satisfied with the level of the trainees conduct and compliance during the training.
According to Onyeizu, “the training period is to bring the incubators and the incubatees together to discuss and learn basic agribusiness development initiative and to sign a memorandum of understanding between the project, the incubator and the incubatee so that we have a clearer understanding going forward without any conflict”.
“Our expectation also is that at the end of the training, the participants would have a common understanding of their responsibilities, basic farm management practices, record keeping, cash management and other techniques involved in agribusiness development because the project has timeline within which the empowerment comes in” he said.
However, the State Project Coordinator expressed that the project has not experience any known challenge except the inactive period occasioned by the coronavirus disease but so far we are speeding up the process, The Coordinator at this point thanked the Abia Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, who has been supportive of what the project has being doing.
In a wrap up of the training, the trainees were led by Dr. Uchenna Onyeizu, to Ups Integrated Farm at Mbawsi in Isiala Ngwa South LGA, to have practical experience of what an integrated farm looks like.
In an interaction with one of the participants Master, Maxwell Ejekubi, he expressed his joy to be one of the trainees and can not wait to start his poultry farm to put into practice all he has learnt.
Meanwhile, His Royal Highness, Eze Ukaegbu Asonye, from Aba South LGA, who came as a guarantor for beneficiaries from his community said he was impressed witnessing the level of orientation and exposure the participants are undergoing towards enhancing agribusiness development in the state.
