The South-Saharan Social Development Organisation (SSDO), an NGO, on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, trained 90 rural farmers on agro-ecology to promote climate-friendly farming in Enugu State.
Its Head of Programme, Mr Udochukwu Egwim, said this at a training workshop in Amagu Oduma, Aninri Local Government Area of the state.
Egwim said that the workshop, funded by the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), was aimed at keeping the farmers abreast with the modern climate-friendly farming techniques.
The trainees were drawn from Eke in Udi Local Government Area and Amagu Oduma in Aninri Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, the trainees should adopt the use of organic fertiliser such as animal droppings, dry leaves, instead of the inorganic fertiliser that is harmful to the environment and human beings.
“Today, we are having a workshop on agro-ecology and this workshop is funded by the Nigeria Conservation Foundation. We have done this training in two communities; Eke in Udi LGA and Amagu Oduma in Aninri LGA.
“The essence of the training is to keep farmers abreast with the modern farming techniques that are also climate friendly like the use of organic fertiliser, as opposed to the usual inorganic one that is harmful to the environment.
“We are trying to propose to them a more climate approach to farming, which will also give them more yields and reduce the harm to the environment,” the organisation’s head of programme said.
According to him, beyond this training, the group is providing them with improved palm seedlings for them to practicalise the training given to them.
“And we will also link them to the State Ministry of Agriculture to have an access to also procure these improved seedlings because it will give them more yields in their farms and also save them more time.
“We are also linking them to other government initiatives like the government loans. There are two projects that the government is coming up with; some are funded by the World Bank and other agencies that are targeted at farmers.
“We are providing that linkage to ensure that these farmers can move beyond subsistence farming to a larger scale farming,” Egwim said.
He said that his organisation would interface and interact with the participating farmers to enable them track their progress.
Earlier, the guest speaker, Mrs Celestina Aga, who decried the use of inorganic fertiliser, stressing that food produced with inorganic fertiliser was harmful for human consumption.
Aga, who is also Deputy Director, Agric Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, reminded the farmers of their crucial roles in promoting climate-friendly environment.
She commended the SSDO for deeming it fit to train the farmers.
She urged the participants to take advantage of every available opportunity in terms of loans and grants facilities to enable them to transit from subsistence to commercial farming.
The high point of the event was the distribution of improved palm seedlings to the participants.
By Ifeoma Aka
