Women receive training on potato farming

Speaking at the occasion in Abuja, national president of the association, Chief Daniel Okafor, said the training was carried out to empower and create wealth for women. This intervention, he said, will enable them to generate income to “feed the family with cheap but great nutritional food, and will also go a long way in […]

Speaking at the occasion in Abuja, national president of the association, Chief Daniel Okafor, said the training was carried out to empower and create wealth for women.
This intervention, he said, will enable them to generate income to “feed the family with cheap but great nutritional food, and will also go a long way in reducing poverty and improving healthy family living.”
“This workshop is of great importance because of the role and responsibility of women in our family and society at large. When you empower women, you are building a nation,” Chief Okafor also said.
Delivering his address at the occasion, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) President, Architect Kabiru Ibrahim, pointed out that the government is encouraging farmers through the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) programme, adding that over N200 million has been earmarked to be given as loan to entrepreneurs, especially women.
He urged the women farmers to key into the MSME programme so as to access funds to finance their farming and processing activities, saying “oil will finish one day, so let’s focus on agriculture.”
The AFAN president noted that lack of peace and many other agitations in the country today are due to oil and, therefore, called on Nigerians to embrace agriculture to ensure peace and security.
Also speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary, Nasarawa State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Naphtali J. Dachor, advocated for the propagation of orange-fleshed sweet potato due to its Vitamin ‘A’ content and other advantages.  
He advised the participants to spread the knowledge acquired from the training to other women across the country who could not attend the workshop.
Some participants that spoke to our correspondent expressed gratitude to the organisers of the workshop for enabling them to acquire the skills to operate in the potato value chain.
One of the participants from Edo State, Mrs. Mamedu Chinedu, said she is a cassava farmer but attended the training in order to get knowledge on how to produce and process orange-fleshed sweet potato into various products, so as to make more money and cater for her family needs.
Another participant, Mrs. Sophia Echereozo Nwachukwu, who farms cassava and other crops, told Daily Trust that she came from Imo State to get the skills in farming and processing orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, so as to have a variety of foods to eat and sell as well to make money.
The farmer said she will teach other men and women who are interested in farming the crop when she returns home in order to create multiplier effect.