Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

Farmers and agri-business owners in the rural communities in Nigeria under the Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority have been urged to embrace irrigation as a tool to ensure year-round farming and food sustainability.

The Managing Director of the Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority, Terese Ninga, made this call at the grand finale of the three-day capacity building for farmers and agribusiness owners across Plateau, Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa States last weekend.

The event, held in Makurdi in two days last weekend, had no fewer than 60 farmers and agribusiness dealers as beneficiaries.

Speaking with THISDAY in Osogbo, Ninga said the capacity building and grants awarded to participants are in line with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to ensure farming becomes lucrative and food sufficiency all year
 round.

Ninga said: “Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority in line with the President Bola Tinubu’s vision for zero poverty and food sustainability has put this together to ensure that we reduce poverty at the grassroots and have more people improve on their current businesses.

“We want to ensure agribusiness and agriculture itself are made attractive to youths, women, and other categories of Nigerians who are resident within our jurisdiction and this is one of the plans embedded in the holistic framework we have on this.

“In the Middle Belt, we realised that most farmers don’t do much during the dry season. But I’m here to tell you that farming can still be done during dry season, and that’s why we talk about irrigation. We have water that will serve us and ensure we have harvest all year round.

“Farming should be all year round, and that’s why we’re calling on farmers to embrace irrigation. The president is very interested in sustainable farming and our jurisdiction being the food basket of the nation, so we all must work towards this vision.”

Ninga commended the president for the opportunity, adding that the agency under him will continue to work with all stakeholders. He also urged the beneficiaries to ensure judicious use of the grant and the knowledge gained.

While addressing the participants, representative of the lead partner, Abeam Global Resources, Mr. Kola Balogun, said the company keyed into the vision of the LBRBDA and the federal government, adding that the capacity building was designed to address major issues facing farmers in the region.

According to him, “We keyed into the vision of the Authority to ensure farmers at the grassroots are empowered with both capacity building and small grants to do their business. We also ensured that the training was deep enough to capture all areas needed for modern farming and farming during the dry season.”

He called on beneficiaries to ensure judicious use of the grants, while also putting the skills and knowledge acquired during the training, into practice.

Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke to journalists, appreciated the opportunity given to them by the Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority. 

Ene Idoko, who described herself as a business woman that deals in agriculture products, said her major inspiration was sessions on record keeping, planning and budgeting.

Ene said: “This is highly inspirational and I’ll surely apply lessons got from sessions. I appreciate the Authority and the federal government for helping us in this direction. The grants and knowledge will surely yield positive results.”

Also, Samuel Lohman, a participant from Plateau State, described the training as impactful and engaging.

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