President, Etche Coop
erative Union, Mr Godwin Akandu, has expressed the union’s readiness to partner World Bank in increasing cassava and oil palm production in Niger Delta.
Akandu made this known in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, recently.
He said that the union was collaborating with the World Bank in its agricultural development scheme to provide training for selected farmer groups.
Akandu said the training when completed would enable beneficiaries to re-train other members of the union.
“Recently, our union is partnering with World Bank’s agricultural development scheme, and our target is to maximise output for cassava and oil palm produce in the Niger Delta region, “ he said.
He said a standard training plan had been put in place as part of efforts to train farmers in the region on modern methods of cultivation, harvesting and processing of the target crops.
“Our union is also collaborating with the Marketing Development for Niger Delta area to attain a delegates‘ meeting that would be hosted by World Bank in Akwa Ibom before the end of July, 2016.
“The meeting is basically planned for oil palm producers to demonstrate the use of the Malaysian Knife in the harvesting of oil palm crop for effective profit maximisation.
“Our members shall also join their counterparts in Akwa Ibom to be trained on how to produce Special Palm Oil (SPO), “ he said.
The president said that the Etche Cooperative Union was taking concrete efforts to ensure that its members embraced modern agricultural technology to improve farm yield.
He, therefore, urged the federal, state and local governments to support local farmers in the area to enable them contribute towards achieving food sufficiency in the country.