To promote food production and lessen poverty, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has opened an empowerment centre for farmers in Borno State, together with 120 housing units.
Located in Zawiya village, the complex now boasts solar-powered boreholes, access roads, a worship centre, and a school for children of farmers.
The segmented facility is equipped with fish ponds, poultry houses, goat pens in the production area, raffia, and an empowerment centre that is already completed and will provide training to women and young people.
The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, while launching the edifice alongside Professor Babagana Zulum the governor of Borno State, in Maiduguri, explained that the initiative was to encourage young Nigerians to venture into agriculture.
“Today, we commissioned 120 housing units built for farmers in Borno. The aim is to give farmers a good accommodation.
“The other centre is the agriculture empowerment centre where youth and women would be trained within 3 to 4 months.
“Thereafter, they will be given startup packs to enable them to do agricultural business on their own. All these are geared towards reducing unemployment and achieving food security. The empowerment centres are new projects of NALDA.”
Speaking on the empowerment centres Prince Ikonne disclosed that the centres would have a fishery, poultry, animal husbandry and raffia grass field all aimed at job creation.
“The importance of these agriculture empowerment centres is to create job opportunities and also encourage young Nigerians to go into agriculture.
“We will be more delighted to have it done with corporate or individuals so that it will be anchored around them and the farm will be managed by them while we empower the youth from the proceeds that come from there.”
In addition, he pointed out that the farmers would be recruited in trenches, saying, “We are looking at 250,000 young Nigerians across the country, to empower them in different fields in the first phase. It is going to be a continuous phase.”
Speaking after inaugurating NALDA’s rural housing scheme, Zulum commended Mr Ikonne for choosing Borno to execute such Projects, noting that it would contribute to the economic development of the state.
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