Ife Zone N-Power Agro Volunteers comprising Ife East, Ife Central, Ife North and Ife South gave out improved variety of cocoa pods to hundreds of farmers in their locality at a program tagged “Agricultural Sensitisation Week” organised by the volunteers.
The cocoa pods according to the volunteers were ordered from Akwa Ibom state and distributed to the farmers.
Speaking at the distribution exercise, the chairperson, organising committee, Miss Raji Barakat said, “this event is a milestone of the activities of the volunteers in Ife Zone billed to tackle on the field report of challenges facing farmers in this area. We had general training for farmers on the safe use of agrochemicals, lecture on agricultural best practices, safe and ease of accessing loan and it’s repayment as well as fielding questions from farmers on areas otherwise not envisaged”
Corroborating this position, the chairperson of N-Agro volunteers in the zone, Mr. Festus Clement appreciated the Federal Government for the opportunity given for them to serve their fatherland once again.
He continued, “we want to state categorically that we are ready partners in the agricultural revolution currently going on in the country and we are committed to ensuring food security of the state of Osun and Nigeria as a whole. The Ooni of Ife has given volunteers some plots of land in order to farm and showcase the training we have received. By this time next year, we are sure of improved yields and increased output as a result of the efforts of the N-agro volunteers”.
The Presidential aide on Job Creation, Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede represented by the State focal person, hon. Idiat Babalola, expressed gratitude to the volunteers for their painstaking effort to live out the dream of the programme by impacting on the society by helping farmers.
He urged them to continue in their stride of contributing their quota to the society as well as empowering themselves.
Imoukhuede also expressed gladness with the performance of the volunteers in their various cells and enjoined the farmers and OSSADEP to continue supporting the volunteers as they have been doing.
Partners of the N-agro Ife Zone Volunteers include OSSADEP, Faculty of Agriculture(OAU), Marna, Jubaili and other notable stakeholders in the sector.
N-Power Agro is a category of the N-Power programme of the Federal Government to provide advisory services to farmers across the country.
The volunteers are tasked with dissemination of the knowledge that has been aggregated by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the area of extension services. They will also gather data of Nigeria’s agriculture assets.
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