The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has urged farmers in the South-South to take ownership of all the agricultural projects executed in their communities to ensure sustainability.
The State Coordinator, FMARD, Edo office, Mr. Wellington Omoragbon, made the call during the workshop on impact assessment of inputs and projects to farmers organized by the ministry for south-south farmers on Wednesday in Benin.
Sensitization on ownership and maintenance practices of all the projects were also carried out by officials of the ministry.
Omoragbon said the workshop would serve as a feedback mechanism that would guide the management in the decision-making process.
“This workshop will be very interactive, to enable the ministry to assess the impact of all the projects executed in rural communities on the people.
“We are also here to appeal to you all to take ownership of these projects for sustainability. When you maintain these projects, it will encourage the government to do more.
“Let me quickly inform you all here present, that the ministry has supported farmers in Edo with a food dehydrator, motorized oil palm harvester, cashew crackers, and water pumps,’’ Omoragbon said.
He added that other supported inputs were knapsack sprayers, agrochemicals, cassava cuttings, oil palm and coconut seedlings, the processing equipment as well as the provision of solar street lights.
“Government has also executed borehole projects in several communities, constructed feeder farm roads across the three senatorial districts of the state,’’ he said.
The state coordinator also explained that the ministry had carried out a series of training for the farmers on modern farming technologies.
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According to him, it’s important that they carry out this sensitization workshop to train the farmers on how to maintain and take ownership of all the projects.
He also said that 35 percent of the input distribution programs were targeted at women, 20 percent targeted at youths, and 10 percent at persons with special needs.
“Today’s occasion is aimed at getting feedback from participants and beneficiaries, not only to aid the management in decision making but also to improve upon its activities and programs.’’
Also, the Director of Special Duties, FMARD, Ms. Fausat Lawal, said the ministry was committed to assisting farmers across the six geo-political zones to improve their livelihood band and to achieve food security.
Farmers at the workshop were full of commendations for the Federal Government for executing people-oriented projects and making inputs available to farmers across the South-South states.
Mr. Godwin Akandie, a farmer from Etche community, Rivers state who thanked the ministry for all the projects, said farming had been made easy with the provision of inputs.
“We are about 10 cassava farmers in our cooperative society. The ministry gave us a cassava processing machine and improved cassava cuttings,’’ he said.
Mrs. Joan Obazee, the coordinator of women in agriculture in Edo, said the programs and interventions from the Federal Government had impacted positively on women and youths in the state.
Obazee, however, called on the Federal Government to do more, adding that everybody had not benefitted from the gesture.
