By Chinyere Anyanwu
Stakeholders in the country’s agricultural sector have lent their voices to the call for the provision of innovative and relevant education for practitioners in the sector to boost its productivity.
The Director of Administration, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Chief Chinedu Agbaju Learnder, the Executive Director of Green Shift Africa, Dr. Steve Arowolo and Programme Manager of Nigerian College of Agribusiness, Precious Ezinwa, made the call during the launch of a range of farmers-focused training programmes by Nigerian College of Agribusiness in Ibadan, Oyo State, to support the development of smallholder and commercial farmers in Nigeria.
The stakeholders, who emphasised the significance of education and skill development in the agricultural sector, urged the leadership of the Nigerian College of Agribusiness to provide scholarship opportunities to rural smallholder farmers to afford them opportunity of attending the training programmes of the college.
The training programmes, which are designed to support the agricultural industry with specialised skills will enhance productivity of the farmers and as well as Nigeria’s drive towards attaining sufficiency in food security.
The training courses of the college, which are structured into thematic areas such as farm management, agribusiness enterprise development, nutrition, development leadership and food business innovation are designed to provide farmers and agribusiness professionals essential skills and industry-specific qualifications needed to succeed in today’s ever-changing agricultural landscape.