Benue to partner FTF to boost agribusiness

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has pledged to partner with Feed The Future (FTF) to improve agribusiness in the state. Ortom, who noted that his administration would ensure that the programme succeeded in the state, spoke during the Agribusiness Finance and Investment Summit in Makurdi, organised by Feed The Future, a United States Government’s […]

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has pledged to partner with Feed The Future (FTF) to improve agribusiness in the state.

Ortom, who noted that his administration would ensure that the programme succeeded in the state, spoke during the Agribusiness Finance and Investment Summit in Makurdi, organised by Feed The Future, a United States Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.

The governor said it was based on improving the programme that he established the Office of Agribusiness in the state, stressing that he would ensure that farmers were adequately trained for enhanced productivity.

Earlier, the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Timothy Ijir, urged farmers in the state to venture into mechanised farming in order to better their lot.

He said farmers would benefit more if they embraced mechanised farming because they would be cultivating on large scale, adding that most of the farming population in the state was using manual labour to cultivate as well as harvest their yields.

“Also, some of them farm mainly for subsistence;that is they farm majorly for their family consumption thereby resulting to low productivity as well as low yields. There is need for them to step up their farming activities for their overall good,” he said.

On his part, the Managing Director, FTF, Dr Adam Saffer, said the organisation was ready to integrate women and youth in their activities to enable them fend for themselves.

He stressed that the involvement of women and youths was necessary because they are the drivers of the needed change in agriculture.