The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Wednesday, July 24, 2019 promised to support farmers to sustain food security in Nigeria to end hunger.
Mrs Udumma Nwokike, the Environment, Energy and Climate Change of UNDP, said this at a training organised for extension workers in Abuja.
The training was organised by UNDP – Global Environmental Facility (GEF) in collaboration with Women Farmers Advance Network (WOFAN) and National Programme Monitoring Unit (NPMU).
The theme is: “Training on rice and groundnut based Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and family nutrition’’.
Nwokike said UNDP was ready to support states that were implementing the food draft security project on sustainable food security in Nigeria.
“We are here to pledge our full support to government partners, especially the northern states and some places within the savannah that take sustainable food and food security seriously.
“We are here to support farmers and work with the seven states.”
She said the training was based on groundnut and rice agricultural good practices and family nutrition and one of the projects that had been implemented in some states as part in meeting the SDG’s goal for zero hunger.
“We are in total support of this project to encourage them to be dedicated and ensure the success of the programme knowing the importance of food production.’’
She said that farmers should be able to produce to feed the nation, produce to earn income and be able to export to neighbouring countries.
Nwokike appealed to the participants to impact the same knowledge on rural farmers to improved on their agricultural practices by implementing the right procedures and processes of good farming.
Mrs Salamatu Garba, Founder, Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), said the training would give the extension workers additional skills such as referral training to awake and stimulate their thinking on how to promote climate smart agriculture.
“We are sharing experience in a participatory discussion for good agricultural practices on how to apply pesticides and advise farmers in return so we can get maximum yield.’’
She said that groundnut, if planted might be yield four tonnes per hectare but if farmers used the correct agricultural practices and adequate spacing, they would end up getting five to six tonnes per hectare.
“Farmers in the past, they thought they can only grow grains in the rainy season, now they can grow rice both in the rainy and dry season.’’
She said that with the skills, they would go back and teach the farmers in their local languages and the right messages would to the farmers.
Some 100 extension workers drawn from Nassarawa and Benue are currently been trained.
By Bukola Adewumi
