The Federal Government has trained and empowered a total of 250 crop, fish and poultry farmers in Kano State.
The empowerment and training was organized by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning in Kano.
The smallholder farmers who were selected from the 44 local government areas of the state were each given day-old chicks, chicken feeds, fish feeds, 10 kg of maize, sprayers, herbicides among others.
Speaking during the programme on Wednesday in Kano, the Permanent Secretary, FMAFS, Mr Temitope Fadeshemi, decried the level of poverty in Nigeria, describing it as alarming.
Represented by Zonal Director federal ministry of agriculture and food security, Kano State, Mr Isa Hotoro explained that estimated population of 88.4 million Nigerians were living in extreme poverty.
Fadeshemi said that the aim of the empowerment programme was to reduce poverty and increase agricultural yields in Nigeria.
“This is why the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning in collaboration with FMAFS is making conscious efforts at reducing the spate of poverty across the country,” he said.
He said that Nigerian farmers were not just the backbone of the country’s agricultural sector, but were the heartbeat of the nation’s prosperity.
The permanent secretary added that NPRGS reflected government’s dedication to addressing poverty at its roots, emphasizing the pivotal role agriculture plays in economic growth and development.
Fadeshemi called on the beneficiaries to effectively utilized the opportunity to increase agricultural yields in the country and earn more profits.
Some of the farmers who spoke at the event lauded the federal government for gesture and called for more inputs.
Muhammad Ali, a farmer, commended the two ministries for the training and called for more farming inputs from the government
Another farmer, Sani Bala, also urged the government to provide modern seedlings for smallholder farmers in the state.
Aisha Isa, a poultry farmer, said that the training would help the farmers to have more knowledge on poultry farming.
“The training will help boost productivity and profitability as it has enlightened us more on poultry and fish farming,” she said.
