From Felix Ikem, Nsukka
The member representing Igbo-Eze South State Constituency at the Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Harrison Ogara has organised training for over 800 farmers in his constituency. The training was on how they would produce organic fertilizer, organic pesticide, and other agricultural value chains to improve their farm productivity.
The training with the theme: “Rebuilding the Economy of Enugu State through Development of Agriculture,” was conducted by experts from Southfield Agro Network International and the Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme (ENADEP) and had farmers from the rural areas of the constituency in attendance.
Declaring the training workshop open at St Mary’s Catholic Church Ibagwa-Aka, Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State, Ogara said that the programme was in line with the state government’s effort to boost agriculture in the state, noting that the rural farmers would be trained on the production and application of organic fertilizer and organic pesticide, among others.
He stressed that he is more interested in training and empowerment as a means of making his constituents self-reliant, rather than giving out stipends, which he said may be spent on frivolities that may not add value to their lives.
“It has been my dream to pull people out of poverty given the high level of poverty in the country, I believe that to solve the problem of poverty the best way is to embrace agriculture.
“The country is finding it difficult to achieve food security today because we have abounded agriculture, and many people especially the youths are roaming around in search of white-collar jobs.
“Study has shown that there’s nexus between unemployment and criminality, hence an idle man is a devil’s workshop and a hungry man is an angry man,” he said.
According to him, arrangements is ongoing to attract funds from the World Bank for the farmers even as he noted that only those who are serious about their farming would be shortlisted.
“I have coordinators in all the wards of the constituency who will assist me to monitor and access the performance of the farmers and ascertain those who are serious so that they will be assisted,” he promised.
The lawmaker disclosed that the next training for farmers in the area would be on fish, pig, and snail farming in which experts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka would train and certify the participants.
He urged the farmers to take the training seriously, adding that he would do a follow-up to ascertain and encourage those who put what they learnt to work.
Speaking, Mr Ifeanyi Ibekwe, a resource person from the Southfield Agro, who trained the farmers on how to produce organic fertilizer with materials around their environments, explained that the organic fertilizer is very easy and cheap to produce, as well as helps the crop to grow very well for bumper harvest.
Ibekwe listed some of the materials that can be sourced locally for the production of the organic fertilizer as rice husk ash, plantain peel powder, cow dung, chicken manure, potash, etc, and explained to the farmers how to mix them to get the organic fertilizer.
“With this, you have no business spending money buying fertilizer in the market again, as the organic fertilizer you are producing is the same and very effective,” he said.
In the same vein, another resource person, Mr Alex Okeke, from Southfield Agro, who trained the farmers how to produce organic pesticides in different ways, said that it is used to prevent pests from attacking and destroying crops.
Okeke noted that orange peel boiled with a cup of water for 10 minutes and allowed to cool, can be used as a pesticide to get rid of pests like slugs, aphids, ants, whiteflies, and fruit flies.
He added: “Southfield has been training farmers and promoting the use of organic agro-products as a strategy for climate-smart agricultural practices.”
Also, Mr Benjamin Onunze, former Director of Technical Services, ENADEP, who represented the programme manager, Dr Ogbonna Onyishi, taught the farmers how to use soil testing kits to test the soil in the farms to know the type of crop to be planted in particular farmland.
“From the soil testing you will know the type of soil nutrients available and the one that is lacking in a farmland.
“For instance, if you have a farmland that is rich in nitrogen, you look for a crop that needs nitrogen to grow well.
“Not testing the soil before farming is one of the reasons farmers record poor harvest because they did not know the nutrient present and the one lacking in a farmland,” he said.
Some of the participants interviewed expressed their gratitude to the lawmaker for organizing the training workshop, which they said would add value to their farming.
They promised that they would apply the knowledge gained from the training workshop to their farms for more productivity and to justify the objective of the workshop, as well as to contribute their quota towards achieving food security.
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