Ekiti State government has commenced training of livestock farmers on use of modern technology tools in enhancing productivity and food security in the state.
The event tagged, ‘Training on Productivity and Technology Adoption, Survey and Analysis’ held in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital was organised by Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project(L-PRES) under the Ministry of Agriculture.
The trainees who are drawn across all the local government of the state will undergo extensive training for a week learning the use of technology to enhance productivity.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ebenezer Boluwade who was represented by the permanent secretary, Babatope Ojo said the state is focusing on four selected livestock value chains including Dairy/Beef, Sheep/Goat, Piggery and Poultry (Broiler and Eggs production).
He urged all the relevant value chain actors/ players to work in synergy with other ancillary agribusinesses to ensure sustainable food security and peaceful co-existence in Ekiti State.
According to him, ” the livestock sub-sector is wide and presents some promising production in our states hence L-PRES is projecting measures that will help the livestock farmers and ancillary agribusinesses mitigate and increase adaptive measures to modernize agricultural practices.”
While encouraging the participants to take advantage of the training, he maintained that the government is ready to support massive productivity in the livestock sector through technology which will foster unity between farmers and herders in the state.
In his remarks, the project coordinator of L-Press in Ekiti, Olayinka Adedipe, said that L-Press currently operates in 16 local governments of the State, adding that it is carrying out mass extension works with stakeholders such as people in academic and extension officers.
“If we are able to empower 200,000 farmers, look at the indirect jobs that will be linked to that, so, for the indirect jobs, we are looking at over 1.5 million jobs,” he said.
The Lead Consultant, the Synergy Impact Consultant Limited, Professor James Ogunlola noted that attention has always been on crop production, saying, ” this is the first time the country is shifting attention to livestock production.”
He maintained that the importance of livestock cannot be overemphasized as the programme will support rural production, adding that the place of technology in achieving effective productivity cannot be dismissed.
Ogunlola said, “L- PRES is doing the needful and I can tell you that this process is what can send Nigeria out of the woods in terms of crisis, production, and livelihood.
“Ekiti is an important state when it comes to Agriculture and we must move the state forward in the next one week we are going to help ourselves to gain understanding and develop strategies which we can implement and bring in new ideas amongst the participants.”
ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then