300 Beneficiaries Of Abia-Sponsored Agriculture Training Arrive In Nararawa

By Nwahiwe Cleverson Chinonyerem *

Three hundred agricultural beneficiaries from the Abia State Government’s fully sponsored programme have arrived at CSS Global Farms in Nasarawa State for a two-week training.

Recall that a few weeks ago, the State Government held a capacity-building seminar for the first batch of 300 candidates chosen for the training.

Prof. John-Kennedy Opara, the founder of CSS Global Integrated Farms, stated in a presentation titled ‘Agricultural Development and Food Security – the Path to Human and Capital Resources Development’ that God had destined Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, to lay a solid foundation in Abia on which those who came after him would build.

Before departing from Umuahia on Friday morning, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, charged the trainees to take the programme seriously, reminding them that they are going to Nasarawa to learn, not for a jamboree or site seeing.

“The government has paid for each of the 300 beneficiaries who are going to CSS farms, and you will be exposed to all forms of mechanised farming as well as the entire agricultural value chain.

“You are going there to learn, not for a Jamboree, not for sight-seeing, and not just to make up the number of people going,” Pastor Ajagba said.

He reminded the beneficiaries that they are representing Abia State and had gone through a rigorous screening process from Ward to State levels.

The Chief of Staff explained that the training was consistent with the Governor’s vision of ensuring that every Abian, particularly the youth population, is taken care of.

He described the training programme as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those who understand why they are going.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those who understand why you are going there. The government has paid hundreds of thousands of Naira for each of you to spend only two weeks there.

“It is a golden opportunity that many Abians would have liked to have, and you are the first group of people going,” he said.

Ajagba explained that trainees are expected to train others once they have completed their training. He went on to say that once they return, the State Government will buy whatever they can produce.

“When they return, they should be able to teach others, ensuring that the unbroken chain of knowledge acquisition and transfer continues. We have also informed and convinced them that upon their return, whatever they are able to produce, individually and collectively, the government will buy it off so that they can focus on farming, production, and ensuring that it is a thriving business at the end of it all,” the Chief of Staff stated.

Pastor Ajagba explained that knowledge acquisition is the best form of empowerment, stating that if you give someone one million Naira to start a business and the person lacks the necessary business skills and knowledge, he or she will squander the funds.

According to him, beneficiaries will receive specific grants in several of the areas in which they are trained in the form of cash, farm implements, and other start-up resources.