The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Tuesday trained 300 rural women on improved skills in processing and preservation of tomatoes to enhance food security in the territory.
The women, mostly farmers were drawn from selected women groups.
The training programme is an outcome of the collaboration between the FCT Administration, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on nutrition improvement.
The Mandate Secretary for FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Malam Abubakar Ibrahim, said the training was in line with the ongoing global campaign to promote the practice of organic agriculture for its nutritional and health benefits.
Ibrahim noted that the ‘Hot bottle technique’ lays emphasis on the use of organic products in the processing and preservation processes.
” It is imperative to support the programme to bequeath homemakers (women), the skills that will help save cost, minimise loss and improve nutritional intake in their homes.”
The secretary, therefore, enjoined the participants to take advantage of the training to improve their families food and nutrition security.
Ibrahim said that the support FCTA had received from JICA in the sponsorship of secretariat staff for series of capacity building programmes in Japan had proven to be a success.
According to him, staff and officers of the secretariat have stepped down their knowledge to improve the livelihood of rural women of the FCT.
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“I want to assure you that the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat will ensure the sustenance of this programme.
“To this end, all the participants numbering 300 will be given free complementary training materials, which include, special bottles, tomatoes, onions and pepper to enable them practice their new found knowledge at home.
“I express appreciation on behalf of the FCT Administration to the management of JICA for their support and also to our women, who have no doubt endured so much difficulties to ensure the wellbeing of their families.”
Ibrahim disclosed that the FCT Minister of State, FCT, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, who was in the forefront of campaign for gender equality and economic empowerment for women and youths, had equally lined up series of activities that would improve the livelihood of women in FCT.
He assured that the secretariat would continue to mobilise more women to benefit from the various agricultural programmes of the FCTA.
Earlier, the Director, Planning Research and Statistics of the Agriculture Secretariat, Yahaya Husseini, said the training was one of the activities of the FCTA to empower hardworking women to be self-reliant, using local technology.
He noted, ”the training was apt, as it was the obligation and collective responsibility of managers of public institutions and key stakeholders in the industry to change the business of agriculture, which has been left mostly to the peasant farmers.
”FCT has a deliberate policy to promote the development of a sustainable commercial agriculture that will not only guarantee increased farm income, but also ensure availability of sufficient food for the ever growing population of the territory.”
