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FG trains 400 graduates in agribusiness

By on December 26, 2016

Over 400 unemployed graduates are currently undergoing training in various fields of agricultural business in a bid to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country.

The training programme was organised by the Federal Government, through the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Ondo State, the Provost of the college, Dr. Samson Odedina, said.

He said participants at the training were drawn from 16 states of the federation while the training would last for five days.

Odedina stated this at the opening ceremony of the training in the college, adding that the Federal Government sponsored the training to enable the graduates to learn about agriculture as a business, so that they could stand on their own without looking for white-collar jobs.

He said, “This training is being held in tandem with our mandate to support government interest and investment in agriculture which centres on job creation and unemployment for young people, using profitable agro-ventures as smooth vehicle.

“The Federal Government is the sponsor of this training, as approved in our 2016 capital project, with the aim of training unemployed graduates on profitable value chain job opportunities.”

The provost said the trainees would be subsequently provided post-training links expected to expand their choice of agribusiness type and make them employers of labour.

According to him, the youths will be trained in agro-business such as sustainable cassava production practices, cassava processing and value addition; tree and fruit crop technique; fisheries and fish cage culture system; pig production and management; poultry production; bee keeping and honey production .

In his remarks, the Chairman of the occasion and member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Afe Olowookere, described the training as a right step in the right direction, stressing that it would bring the youths out of the labour market.

The lawmaker, representing Akure South/Akure North Federal Constituency, declared that the Federal Government would continue to ban importation of some food items into the country to encourage and promote production of foods locally.

 

[Punch]