Organisation promises to assist Benue to retain its Agricultural relevance


The Country Director, Synergos, Mr Adewale Ajadi, said that the organisation had mapped out strategies to assist Benue to retain its status as the Food Basket of the nation.
Ajadi stated this on Tuesday at a stakeholders meeting held in Makurdi.
He stated that the organisation was poised to assist the state through various ways to step up agriculture thereby retaining its status of being the food basket of the nation.
He said that the organisation hoped to achieve this feat by ensuring that the state embraced value chain.
He said that farmers in the state would be taught how to process some crops to finish goods such as processing cassava peels to end as pig feeds.
He further said that they would also be taught the best ways of breeding animals.
He explained that it was the strong desire of the organisation to make agriculture very attractive to the young people so as to be gainfully employed and to reduce unemployment.
Ajadi urged them to shift from farming for consumption to commercial purposes, adding that if they take agriculture as business, it could enhance their revenue.
Mrs Dorcas Ukpe, the Special Adviser to the Benue Governor on Food Security, said that the state was working assiduously to ensure that farmers go about their businesses without fear of molestation from herdsmen.
Mr James Ker, the Programme Manager, Benue Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (BNARDA), urged the organisation to consider the small scale farmers in their strategy as they outnumber the large scale farmers.
Similarly, Mrs Janet Adejo, Head, Small Scale Women Farmers of Nigeria, said that the greatest challenge of farmers in the state was lack of markets for most agricultural produce.
Adejo urged the organisation to assist the farmers by creating markets to enable farmers have value for their products.
A participant, Mr Zaki Igyo, a cassava farmer, appealed to the organisation to endeavour to equip farmers with the requisite knowledge that would enable them move forward.
Mrs Ada Idoko, the Treasurer of FADAMA III, challenged the organisation to evolve ways that could encourage women to venture into agriculture and become financially independent

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