Farmers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCTA) have been urged to regard agriculture as a business by adopting innovative strategies hinged on information and technology to increase the market value of their products, incomes and standard of living.
The Acting Secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat of FCTA, Mr. Ibe Prospect Chukwuemeka, gave the charge during a capacity building workshop on agribusiness development organised for rural women, youth farmers, entrepreneurs and cooperative societies held recently at Gwagwalada Area Council.
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The acting secretary, who was represented at the event by the Director Planning Research and Statistics in the Agric Secretariat, Mr. Yahaya Husseini, said the event was organised to train farmers on how to move agricultural practices from mere production to investment in a value chain.
That, he stated, would help increase the earnings of farmers thereby making them self-reliant.
“There is no aspect of agriculture that is not lucrative as long as our farmers efficiently channel their resources on the right investments and avoid wastages of products that could be easily transformed to other uses,” he said.
While re-echoing the need for farmers to form cooperative groups to enable them to reap the benefits of not only easily accessing support but also pooling their resources together for bigger investment, he assured them of the commitment of FCT Administration under the leadership of the Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello and Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, to create the opportunities that will help them grow in their various businesses.
In his remarks, the Director Department of Cooperative and Rural Development, Mr. Innocent Ajaefobi, emphasized the role smallholder farmers play in the quest for food security.
He said the workshop will allow the participants to acquire practical skills to facilitate the growth of their various agricultural vocations.
Mr. Omole Olateju, Deputy Director and Desk Officer, Rural Economy and Financing in the Agric Secretariat, disclosed that the programme which has been carefully designed to address the immediate challenges faced by rural farmers will dwell on topics such as agribusiness plan, the concept of agricultural value chain development for rural agro-preneurs, importance of record-keeping in agribusinesses, credit/insurance support for smallholder rural agro-enterprise amongst others.
Speaking in an interview, one of the participants, Alhaji Suleiman Ajayi, thanked the FCT Administration for organising the programme which, he said, was timely in view of the current global economic crisis which has affected a lot of small businesses.
He said the programme would expose farmers to new trends and useful information that would enable them to make informed decisions that would help their businesses grow.
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