The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has commenced
training of 80 unemployed youths in Anambra on modern agricultural techniques
as part of its efforts to reduce unemployment in the state.

The state Coordinator of NDE, Mr Mike Mbata, who declared
the workshop open in Awka explained that it was under the Rural Agricultural
Development and Training Scheme (RADTS).

Mbata said that RADTS was one of the empowerment programmes
of the directorate aimed at addressing the current unemployment situation in
the country.

He noted that joblessness had resulted in various crimes in
the society, adding: “the attendant consequences had brought in frustration and
anti-social practices inimical to law and order.

“Some youths resort to all forms of criminality, trafficking
in drugs, armed robbery, kidnapping, destruction of lives and property,
prostitution and child trafficking,” he said.

The coordinator said that the programme would equip the
beneficiaries with necessary skills and modern agricultural production and
processing methods.

“The aim of the scheme is therefore, to reawaken the
interest of the youth in agriculture by exposing them to opportunities for self
employment and wealth creation.

“The participants will be trained in modern techniques of
farming both in production and processing that remove drudgery of labour.

“We are encouraging them to practise farming quite different
from the way our parents did it in order to make it more attractive and
profitable. “

Mbata said the NDE was partnering with financial
institutions and that successful trainees would be assisted to secure loans
from the institutions on a low interest rate.

A beneficiary of the programme, Mr Ikechukwu Udemezue, who
spoke on behalf on of others thanked the NDE for organising the training and
encouraged them to continue to empower youths.

“The training has added value to our lives because we have
realised the means of livelihood and better ways of carrying out agricultural
activities,” he said.