The Ogun State Cares FADAMA RA 2 on Friday trained facilitators, extension officers and technical assistants covering the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state on capacity building.
The training was organised in Abeokuta for the personnel, to ensure the effective execution of COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Project.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that OGUN STATE CARES FADAMA RA 2 is an intervention of the state government in collaboration with the Federal Government and the World Bank,
The programme aims to restore the livelihood of the poor and the vulnerable farmers, as well as maintain food security by giving grants to those in the agricultural value chain affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme is to assist more than 20,000 farmers across the state within two years, hence the capacity building for a successful implementation.
Declaring the event open, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Adeola Odedina, said that the future was bright for Ogun in the area of agriculture and industrialisation.
According to him, the bright future will bring about food sufficiency, job creation and revenue generation.
Odedina, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Dotun Sorunke, said the training on capacity building was to equip and guide the facilitators and technical assistants to deliver maximally.
He urged the participants to imbibe what they were being taught for effectiveness and productivity.
“We put up this capacity building programme because we want you all to be transformed and we do not want you to miss the road so you don’t mislead the farmers.
“You can only give what you know because if you learn good thing, you will produce good things.
“Your work will also involve gathering of information and data capturing, so you need to be attentive and make use of every knowledge gained,” he said.
The commissioner said that the project manager and her team in the past few months had taken a sensitisation programme to virtually all the LGAs in the state.
He said that the pilot scheme of the project was billed to takeoff in Obafemi-Owode, Odogbolu, Ijebu-North, Yewa-North, Odeda and Ado-Odo/Ota LGAs.
Mrs Solape Awe, the Project Manager, gave the overview of the technical section and harped on the importance of trainings to farmers through the extension officers.
Awe advised the officers to be up-to-date in best agricultural practices to inculcate same to the farmers.
She said that the officers should keep abreast of climate-smart agriculture, timely delivery and good agronomic practices, as well as quality agro-input.
NAN reports that various project implementation officers taught technical training sections on criteria for beneficiary selection, profiling and mapping, as well as environmental issues.
Mr Oluwafemi Fagbenro, a participant, from Imeko-Afon LGA, who spoke on behalf of all the participants, said the capacity building was apt as it had given them more knowledge and skills.
Fagbenro said that the training would enable the officers to get the farmers’ profile for disbursement.
He thanked the project manager for organising the training.