Kaduna: Group set to train 10,000 almajiri children in farming

Plagued by the menace of out-of-school syndrome bedeviling the country, especially in the Northern states, a group has launched an innovative programme aimed at empowering Almajiri children in Nigeria.

Speaking at the launch of the programme at Arewa House Kaduna, the Group Head of Nutriment Investment Hub, Mr Dauda Oche, said the programme was designed to tackle the issues of food security and out-of-school children in Nigeria.

The initiative, which is starting with 100 Alamajiri children, will provide training for 90 days, to empower them to become self-sufficient and productive members of society.

Oche emphasized that the programme is not a charity initiative, but rather a collaborative effort aimed at promoting sustainability and dignity among the Almajiri community.

The programme is also expected to contribute to Nigeria’s food security, with the potential to increase grain production and reduce the country’s reliance on imports.

“We organized this program as a corporate social responsibility. We came around and realized that there are a lot of things that we need to do as a company.

“And this programme is aimed at empowering first training of the Almajiri, second, empowering them on how to go on an alternative way of farming.

“Like the sack farming, the gardening, and also there is an aspect of it that deals with livestock, like poultry production, how they can keep birds for profit.

“Also, we have another arm of shoe coupling. As you can see in the display, there are some shoes that the Almajiri have done at the end of training.

“So, basically, the aim is to collaborate with stakeholders on how we can partner and have a sustainable outcome at the end of the day.

“We believe the Almajiri are talented and intelligent, and they have what it takes to collaborate.

“We have met some institutions, like Kaduna Polytechnic, to seek 70 hectares of land from them. We want to use it for cultivation.

“We want to use the Almajiri based on the training we’ have had with them. We have had some training in precision agriculture, where we can farm shogum, maize, millet, soya, and all that.

“After this pilot phase, we are looking at how to empower about 10,000 Almajiri in future because, according to the World Health Organization, we have about 8.5 to 10 million Almajiri, and they constitute 70% of school children.

“So, if you empower that number, you can imagine the food security that will come instead of growing up out in the street, going from one place to the other,” Dauda narrated.

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