The Akwa Ibom State Coordinator of the Renewed Hope Initiative, RHI, and First Lady Designate, Lady Helen Eno Obareki, has expressed appreciation to Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for her generous support and provision of financial resources to facilitate the rollout of agricultural initiatives across the nation.
Lady Obareki gave the appreciation in Uyo, during the flag-off of a four-day Agricultural Entrepreneurial Practices training for Women and Youths, organised by the Renewed Hope Initiative, RHI, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Office of the First Lady and Ministry of Agriculture, Akwa Ibom State.
Lady Obareki emphasised that the programme which is a collaborative effort underscores the critical importance of agriculture and aligns with the ARISE Agenda and the “Every Home a Garden” campaigns, which serve as key pillars of agricultural support in the nation.
She urged participants to pay attention to the resource persons and leave the programme prepared to become commercial farmers and engage in home gardening, to ensure food security, encouraging them to commit to the intensive training and upon completion, receive relevant starter packs and financial support tailored to their skills.
“I want to encourage you that, if you have found yourself in this room, count yourself lucky, count yourself blessed, take everything that the resource persons will teach very seriously’
‘The idea is not necessarily to go to the market, but if everyone grows something in their homes, then we will be self-sufficient. So I just really want to encourage you that as you come here each of the four days, make sure that when we come to monitor your progress, we will be proud that we made an impact. Depending on what you have been trained on, we will give starter packs and money as well”, she noted.
Setting the tone for the training, the facilitator of the Agricultural Support Programme under the Renewed Hope initiative, ASP-RHI Akwa Ibom State, Mrs Emem Orok, said that a total of 200 beneficiaries including men, women and youths will be trained in two clusters covering fish farming, poultry farming, snail farming, goat farming, piggery and stack farming, noting that at the end of the training, the beneficiaries will receive starter packs, financial support and follow-up assistance to ensure the aim of the programme is fully achieved.
The training commenced with fish farming, where beneficiaries were taken through a general overview of fish farming and aquaculture selection, fish breeding, processing and smoking.
SOURCE: IKECHUKWU AGBAMEGBUE, FRCN, UYO
