No fewer than 100 farmers in Anambra are participating in a training programme, organised by the Small- and Medium-Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
The two-day capacity building programme for farmers and agro process, which began on Wednesday, is orgainsed under Products and Marketing Enhancement Scheme (PAMES) of SMEDAN.
Speaking at the opening ceremony in Awka, Mr Olawale Fasanya, the Director General (DG) of SMEDAN, said the training is aimed at providing technical support services to MSEs in agro-allied businesses on product development, from farm gate to market.
Fasanya, represented by Mr Hilary Okwor, an Assistant Director in the Agro Business Department, said it is also aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in agro development in the areas of product development, storage, standardisation, sales and marketing.
He said SMEDAN is collaborating with relevant stakeholders to provide standard product development services to promote market access and encourage competitiveness.
“It is all about how to address challenges in the production value chain from the farm to the table. We are training them on how to produce, process, preserve, standardise and sell in order to get the maximum benefit from their enterprise,” he said.
He said the training is going on in two other states – Akwa Ibom and Kano.
Also speaking, Ms Chito Onuzuluike, State Manager of SMEDAN in Anambra, said the choice of rice in the state is because it has a comparative advantage in the production of rice.
She said the participants are tested rice farms drawn from rice farm cooperatives available in the data of Anambra Ministry Of Agriculture.
She said the trainees would go back home better equipped after being trained on modern processing techniques, post harvest processes and agro insurance to inoculate them from extreme loss in event of disasters like the recent fraud.
“These are real farmers drawn from the rice producing areas of Anambra, they are not political farmers, we have followed their records and that is what qualified them for this training.
“SMEDAN is also working with these cooperatives in the areas of input procurement. We have been able to help some procure de-stoning machines,” she said. (NAN)
