Over 260 youths across the 17 Local Government Areas of Enugu State, who are into farming business, including Reverend Sisters, 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.
The beneficiaries have arrived safely at the agricultural training facility in Keffi.
Addressing the participants at Michael Okpara Square, Independence Layout, Enugu, before departure, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Engr. Michael Ogbuekwe, disclosed that the training was part of the concerted efforts of Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration to encourage and empower the youth to gain agricultural experience in line with international best practices.
Engr. Ogbuekwe explained that Gov. Ugwuanyi is committed to agricultural development in Enugu State as well as efficient and effective involvement of the youth and other indigenes of the state in modern agriculture, saying: “We want our people to gather skills that they can give back to the ecosystem, the agricultural system”.
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.
“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.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Chidiebere Emehelu, who described himself as an entrepreneur in food processing, expressed profound gratitude to Gov. Ugwuanyi for giving them the rare opportunity to develop their agro skills.
Emehelu noted 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, Lady Izuchukwu Kanu Obiekwe, another beneficiary, appreciated Gov. Ugwuanyi for the time-honoured 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”.
