FG trains youths, nutritionists on sorghum processing

Okpara Obinna, Deputy Director (Sorghum) Federal Ministry of Agriculture, who spoke at the workshop said they targeted the 13 states of North-east and North-west because of the “great levels of severe malnutrition in these zones.”He said they were training “women, youths, hospital nutritionists and school feeding coordinators who have the capacity to step it down […]

Okpara Obinna, Deputy Director (Sorghum) Federal Ministry of Agriculture, who spoke at the workshop said they targeted the 13 states of North-east and North-west because of the “great levels of severe malnutrition in these zones.”
He said they were training “women, youths, hospital nutritionists and school feeding coordinators who have the capacity to step it down in their homes, local governments and schools”.
Obinna said participants were equally taught entrepreneurial development and business to further put the processing into viable use.
Already, sorghum value chain, according to him, has started impacting positively on farmers in the zones where the crop is being  promoted, saying the ministry, in 2013, distributed 500 metric tonnes of improved high-yielding sorghum to 100,000 farmers for planting.
He said the agriculture ministry has trained 500 farmers on Modern Agronomic Practices (GAP), harvest and post-harvest management techniques of handling these improved varieties.
Mr. Naphtali David Thelta, representing the Desk Officer on Sorghum Transformation Value Chain, said 300 participants have been trained in Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Taraba and Zamfara states.