Over 260 youths farmers across the 17 Local Government Areas of Enugu State, on Wednesday, left Enugu for Keffi, Nasarawa State, for a two-week training at CSS Global Farms, under the sponsorship of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration.
Addressing the participants at the Michael Okpara Square, Independence Layout, Enugu, before departure, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Engr. Michael Ogbuekwe, said that the training was part of the state government”s efforts to encourage and empower the youth to gain agricultural experience in line with international best practices.
He said that Gov. Ugwuanyi is committed to agricultural development in Enugu State as well as efficient and effective involvement of the youth1 and other indigenes of the state in modern agriculture,.
“We want our people to gather skills that they can give back to the ecosystem, the agricultural system.
“What we want to achieve, according to the policies and programmes of our Governor, is that we want our rural communities to be the engine room of the economic development of our state.
“With the knowledge based experience to be acquired from the training, we can see our young ones becoming business entrepreneurs with high standard of operations in the agricultural value chain.
“So, at the end of the day, we should see the products of this gain. We should expect to see partnership among these youths. We expect to see our youths keying into the Central Bank of Nigeria programmes, state Grants, among others, to develop into successful agro business men and women”, he said.
The Special Adviser added that the over 260 beneficiaries will learn modern techniques in agriculture that would be replicated back home in Enugu State, pointing out that agriculture contributes greatly to the GDP of national, state and local economies.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Chidiebere Emehelu, an entrepreneur in food processing, expressed profound gratitude to Gov. Ugwuanyi for giving them the rare opportunity to develop their agro skills.
He added that agriculture is a big market with enormous opportunities especially for the youth, expressing delight that the training will offer them a veritable platform “to become more experienced to add Enugu State in the map of food production in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general”.
Also speaking, another beneficiary, Lady Izuchukwu Kanu Obiekwe, ,thanked
Gov. Ugwuanyi for the initiative, saying: “This opportunity is giving us a lifetime goal. We are thanking our Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Gburugburu) for the great opportunity. We promise to do Enugu State proud over there and also when we return”.
