The Federal Government has proposed an offer of partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to train agricultural workers in the country.
The offer was made by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, during the valedictory project of Market II in Nigeria.
A Director at the Ministry, Dr. Fatima Aliyu who represented Ogbeh, said that “The Federal Government appreciates the work by USAID along the value chain in 15 states for farmers and other stakeholders since 2012. Though Market ll is departing the country, this is not the end as USAID will be engaged to help in the training of our farmers.”
In order to fix the vacuum the departure of Market II in Nigeria will create, government has approached USAID to undertake the training of value chain and field workers of the ministry, Aliyu disclosed.
Market II was a development programme funded by USAID since 2012 to assist smallholder farmers and others in the agriculture value chain achieve improved yields.
According to the Director of USAID Mission in Nigeria, Stephen Haykin, about 1.4 million rural households were engaged by the agency in agricultural activities since 2012, 50 per cent female and 30 percent youth were engaged in farming to promote economic growth.
The minister also promised that the training would subsequently be up-scaled to other states of the federation where the ministry will take over so that the benefits will be maximised.
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