Abia Sends 300 Youths to Nasarawa for Training in Integrated Farming

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

No fewer than 300 youths from Abia State have arrived in Nasarawa State to commenve a two-week training in modern farming practices to empower them to make their living in agriculture.

The training which is fully funded by the Abia government, which announced at the weekend that the beneficiaries of the programme had arrived at the CSS Global Integrated Farms in Nasarawa for the training.

Prior to their departure to Nasarawa, the youths were addressed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor(CoS), Pastor Caleb Ajagba, who charged them to take the programme serious as they were not sponsored to go on a jamboree or sight seeing.

“The Government has paid for each of the 300 beneficiaries going to CSS farms, and you would be exposed to all forms of mechanised farming and the entire value chain of agriculture,” he said.

He said that the beneficiaries shohld see themselves as Abia ambassadors, having been selected after passing through a thorough screening process from the ward to state levels.

According to the CoS, that the training of the youths in mechanised farming and other agricultural practices was in consonace with Governir Otti’s vision of taking care of every Abian, especially the youth population.

He told the trainees that their mission in Nasarawa “is a lifetime opportunity for those of you who understand the reason why you are going there”, adding that government has invested huge amount of money for the programme.

“It’s a golden opportunity that many Abians would have loved to have and you are the first set of people that are going there,” he added.

Ajagba said that the trainees were expected to train others when they return after completing their training so that an “unbroken chain will continue in terms of knowledge acquisition and transfer”.

He also explained that whatever they produce individually and collectively in their farms would be bought off by Abia Government to encourage the young farmers to produce more thereby “making sure that at the end of it all, it’s a very thriving business”.

The CoS noted that knowledge acquisition remains the best form of empowerment, explaining that if you give somebody a million naira to start up a business, the money would be squandered if the person lacked the requisite business skills and knowledge.

He said that the teained young farmers would be given specific grants in form of cash, farm implements and other supports needed to practice what they were trained in.

Few weeks back the State Government had organised a capacity-building seminar for the first batch of the 300 candidates selected for the training.

The founder of CSS Global Integrated farms, Prof. John-Kennedy Opara, made a presentation titled: ‘Agricultural Development and Food Security – the Path to Human and Capital Resources Development’.