NAN
The Federal Government/IFAD-assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), in Ogun State, has trained 10 women cassava processors on various food recipes.
Knowledge Management and Communication Officer of Ogun VCDP, Mr Ibukun Faneye, said this in a statement, in Abeokuta.
Faneye said the women and their counterparts from Taraba and Niger states benefitted from a week-long training which held at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State.
He quoted the Country Director of Harvestplus, Mr. Paul Ilona, as saying that the initiative was to make women self-sufficient by producing food recipes to improve nutrition.
Ilona said Yellow Cassava fortified with Vitamin A is responsible for good eyesight, glowing skin and correcting stomach disorder.
He added that Yellow Cassava improves brain development in children under the age of five years.
The statement also quoted Mr Samuel Adeogun, Ogun Programme Coordinator of VCDP, as imploring the women to make judicious use of the training and the money spent on them by the programme to improve their livelihood.
Adeogun was represented by Mrs. Abiola Adewole-Sobukonla, the Rural Institutional Gender and Youth Mainstreaming Officer.
Alhaja Airat Ogunmoye, one of the women farmers representing Ijebu North-East Local Government, thanked Ogun VCDP for the opportunity given to her to be part of the training.
Ogunmoye promised to be a good ambassador of the state, saying she would put into practice everything learned during the training.
‘‘I will make sure that everything we were trained on will be put into practice when I get back home,’’ she said.
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Another participant, Miss Oluwaseyi Afolabi, also thanked the organisers for the training as well as the starter packs given to them with the support of VCDP.
She said: ‘‘This is a worthwhile investment on us by Ogun VCDP.”
‘‘I am very happy to be part of this training and I promise to take the production of these food recipes as a business in my area,’’ Afolabi added.
The statement said the women were selected from different cassava processing groups to be trained on how to use Vitamin A Fortified Cassava tubers to make confectioneries.