In the continued fight to stop hunger and starvation in Kwara State, the Kwara State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in partnership with Agbeloba, trained several participants on backyard farming, among other initiatives.
Recall that on December 16, 2023, the state government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, had embarked on training to equip a number of participants.
Today, in a post shared on Yinka Solace, Senior Special Assistance News Media to Kwara State Governor X handle, stated that the programme was aimed at promoting sustainable farming and food security in the state.
Among other beneficiaries, Mrs. Bolanle Salawu, who lived in Iyana in Kwara State, was one of the beneficiaries of the Ona-Abayo Farm Input organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
She was excited to be one of the beneficiaries of the rabbit rearing programme and was given one rabbit to train for practical.
She added that she was also taught how to plant potatoes, among other skills that were taught:
“When they gave me the rabbit, it’s growing. We received lectures there on how to do a lot, about how to grow yam, vegetables, and others, which we have started practicing.
“I learned how to plant plantains from that programme and others. God will bless them and continue to enrich them. They’ll not go astray.”
Another beneficiary, Mr. Isiaka Sulyman, who participated as a farmer, speaks on his progress after the training. Sulyman said that, as a way of practicing, he has converted an uncompleted building to plant 250 yams, peppers, and other items. He charged others to follow suit by investing in farming while he showered praise on the state governor and the Commissioner of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“The programme was held on December 16 by the Ministry of Agriculture to bring about everything you saw and did today.
“Actually, as a normal fact, I’m an elite but now a farmer, so I appreciated the governor; he’ll continue progressing.
“If everything grows, we can’t eat it alone; other community members will benefit from it. So I implore our people to wake up; you can’t be in one place and expect to grow.
“An idle hand is a devil’s workshop, so I implore them to work and copy me, and if this is done, there’ll be food in the land,” he advised other farmers.
Mr. Mashood Ayinla Kolapo, another beneficiary, speaks: “the opportunities given to us through the Ministry of Agriculture on December 16th last year can never be quantifiable because we were trained at the same time they gave us what we could start with.
“In fact, that very day I was given tubers of yam and an empty sack of cement. By the time I get home, you can see I discovered that this is more than what was given to me; I have to look for small money to get more yams, sacks, sand, and manure the way we were taught, just to expand on the type of skill, and hopefully I will get a better result from it.
“From there, we were taught a lot of things, in fact, in terms of keeping vegetables in sacks and what-a-view, which I have put to use all the training we were able to gain from that day; you can see nothing is waste.”
He encouraged individuals whose compound is covered by cement to plant food items, using the sack bags:
“If you have a compound and you even cemented or interlocked, that does not stop you from doing it. Some people who were given some things that day, maybe yam or what-a-view, have decided to eat them up. That is not the best. If the government can be so magnanimous by empowering us, what else do we need?”
He also expressed his gratitude to the government of Kwara State for the opportunity given to them.
“Honestly speaking, I am really grateful to the government of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Kayode Alabi for thinking it out of nowhere and making it possible for us, the small earners in the society.
“I am really grateful for that opportunity, and I am praying for the government that God will continue to be with them,” he gratefully commended.
Related Posts
- President Tinubu Urges Governors to Combat Incompetence, Boost Local Agriculture
- Gov AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq signs into law Kwara 2024 Appropriation Bills
- Mass Protest Sweeps Lagos as Citizens Decry Economic Hardship
He urged his fellow beneficiaries to put to good use what was taught:
“I want to encourage my colleagues too; those that were given maybe rabbits or whatever. Please try and do your best to make an achievement from it.“
