The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has trained farmers in Enugu State on modern techniques to improve the processing of cassava in Enugu and South Eastern Region.
The farmers which comprised of youths and women were trained on the modern processing of cassava at Enugu State College of Education Technical, ESCET, with the topic, “Emergency training on processing of Cassava for Youth and women in the South East, South-South and South West.
Declaring the training open, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said that the aim of the training was to train youth and women in modern techniques of processing of cassava in the region.
Kyari who was represented by the State Coordinator and Deputy Director, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Enugu, Mr. Peter Nwaogor, said the ministry through its development partners are training farmers on modern techniques to improve cassava processing.
He commended the federal government for investing heavily in agriculture, saying the effort will reduce hunger and address food insecurity in the country.
Nwaogor therefore, urged the participants to share the knowledge they acquired at the training to other farmers in their respective communities, for the improvement in the cassava production and processing in the state.
“It’s in the light of this that the ministry is conducting a training programme for farmers in Enugu state to ensure the application of modern techniques in agricultural processing in Nigeria
“Government policy on cassava production and processing has huge potential to generate massive employment, eliminate hunger and poverty as well as save foreign exchange and create income and wealth among farmers.”
Earlier, in his opening remark, the Programme Manager of Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme, ENADEP, Dr Ogbonna Onyeisi said that the training was organised to teach farmers modern techniques in processing of cassava agricultural value chain.
He said that the benefits of the training are enormous, saying that Enugu is one of the major producers of cassava in Nigeria, and the State making efforts to increase production and farmers’ income.
“We are here for the training of farmers on cassava processing, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. They are being trained on the specific crops that grow in the South East for the advantageous use of the crop.
“The training will create an opportunity for farmers to learn how to use technology and all varieties of species to ensure modern techniques of processing cassava to add value and increase the incomes of the farmers. It will also reduce the hike in price because cassava can be transformed to many varieties of food.
Also, speaking, the supervisor for the Cassava value chain, Oliver Uwana , urged the participants to pay attention to get all that the source person will teach them.
