SMEDAN trains, empowers 160 youths on agribusiness in Ondo
By Akintunde Jacobs, Akure
In its effort towards supporting cooperative organizations across the states, particularly, the Southwest region, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has trained and empowered no fewer than 160 youths in order to develop agricbusiness in Ondo state.
Shode Olukayode, the South-West Zonal Coordinator of SMEDAN, while speaking with journalists at the end of the six-day entrepreneurship training for some selective cooperative organisations on Sunday in Akure, said the initiative was to encourage youths and young farmers to go back to farming and to increase country’s exportation.
According to him, the training and empowerment programme was a yearly programme and Federal Government initiative to support cooperative organisations saying Ondo and Ogun State was choose from South West to partake in 2021.
“This initiative was established to complimentary the effort of the state government and to assist cooperatives that were into agroelite production in the country.
“We are in Ondo State to train and empower some cooperative organisations. we have 16 cooperatives and each cooperatives is represented by 10 members, so, in all we have 160 participants.
“And they are going to go away with a package a grant close to N300, 000. To enhance their business and also logistics to support them.
“There is what called post training, we are going to follow all the beneficiaries up on how the money is being utilise so that other thing can be added to them,” Olukayode said.
The SMEDAN zonal coordinator, who said that all the participants were drawn from the 18 Local Government Area of Ondo State, however, noted that Ogun State was the next state to benefit from the programme.
Also speaking, Oluyomi Faniyan, Assistant Director of SMEDAN, Abuja, said, “FG and states governments are working restlessly to encourage people to go back to farming because this what has been sustain Nigeria before the emerge of oil.
“Now that oil has failed us, we must go back to farm so that we can increase our export. Lack of exportation is what is affecting Nigeria naira today.”
Muhammed Jamiu Enas, Chairman of Sunshine Cooperative Society in Akure South Local Government, who spoke on behalf of other participants, urged the Federal Government not to relent on the programme so that poverty within the farmers could be the thing of pass and youths could take farming as a job instead of looking for white cola job.
