The Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme (ENADEP) says it recorded huge success in training and empowering  farmers in 2022  in the state.
The Project Manager of ENADEP, Dr Ogbonna Onyeisi,  disclosed this in an interview with The Tide source in Enugu.
He said so far, about 100 women were trained on food processing and 30 farmers were empowered with 80 day old chicks each, including poultry feeds and vaccines.
According to the Project Manager, 50 extension workers were trained by the Federal Government  on Tools and Methodologies on Selected Agricultural Value Chains in the state.
Extension service workers are important stakeholders in agricultural production as well as advisers to the farmers, agricultural agencies and government at all levels,” he said.
He explained that the participants in the training were advised to share the information and knowledge they acquired  to other farmers in their various communities.
“Soil science training on Smart Agro system was also one of the trainings carried out during the year under review, which involved promoting an agricultural system that enhances soil fertility, which reduces production costs and increases yields”, he said.
According to him, the enhancement of soil fertility involves the use of organic fertilizers by farmers.
“They were also taught the good agricultural practice, especially the need to test soil before planting or applying fertilizers,” he said.
He comtinued that the training was organised to address the drift in the agricultural system, adding that rice processing equipment such as tillers for separation, rice trashers and rice destone machines were also distributed to farmers in rice producing local government areas.
“The local government areas include Isi-Uzo, Nkanu East, Aninri, among others, which were assisted by the Federal Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development-Value Chain Development Programme, (IFAD-VCDP,” he said.