In a bid to boost food security in the state, the Bayelsa State Government has released One Hundred Million Naira to two hundred trainees of Agro Farms in Nassarawa State.
This was made known by officials of the State government at an event tagged Business Funding Options for Agro Trainees organized by the state Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) in Yenagoa.
Commissioner for Information Orientation and Strategy, Mrs. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai who represented Governor Douye Diri at the event charged beneficiaries of the scheme to ensure that funds received were invested in agricultural production in order to boost food production in the state.
Mrs.Koku-Obiyai who expressed regret that though Bayelsa State has rich soil for food production, most agricultural products consumed in the state were imported from neighbouring states and emphasized that government alone could not employ all Bayelsans, charging beneficiaries to use the funds judiciously in order to be self-reliant and also be employers of labour.
Addressing the beneficiaries, the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources Professor Beke Sese said the government’s objective was to improve the proficiency of Bayelsa farmers in order to have them actively involved in agriculture towards achieving food security.
Professor Sese said the 200 trainees were the second set sent by the state government last year after the first batch of 400 in 2022 to learn modern techniques in agricultural production, stating that beneficiaries had been aggregated into clusters of five to twenty persons as cooperatives warning them against misappropriation as investments would be closely monitored by the ministry.
Commissioner for Trade, Industry and Investments Mr. Ebieri Jones said benefiting cooperatives were registered with the ministry, urging them to grow skills with the funds and make an impact in the state.
While emphasizing that there was no way the country’s foreign exchange could improve without food security, he hinted that strong emotional intelligence was required for leaders of the various cooperatives to appropriate the funds judiciously.
Some of the beneficiaries thanked the State government for the gesture with a pledge to utilize the funds to the maximum.
Highlights of the event was the presentation of demonstration-cheque to benefitting cooperatives by the Bayelsa State Government.
Also present at the program were representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Agriculture, Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation, and other financial institutions who gave insights and provided business funding options.
