NGO trains 86 youths on ‘Climate Resilient Agriculture’

A non-governmental organisation, Fresh & Young Brains Development Initiative (FBIN), has disclosed that it has trained 86 young farmers on climate resilient agriculture in seven states and the FCT. The founder of the organisation, Ms Nikiruka Nnaemego-Okonkwo, stated this at a “Mock Parliament on Climate Resilience Agriculture” held in Abuja.

She said the essence of the training was to build a “climate resilient generation” among vulnerable youths and undergraduates from the states and the FCT adding that they had seen the negative impact of climate change on farmers. “Once their farms are affected, they lose everything and this affects their income. So, we designed this programme to teach young farmers on agricultural methods and techniques that are resilient climate change. The training also covered climate change adaption, personal development and agribusiness, and we targeted youths in Anambra, Enugu, Benue, Kogi, Kaduna, Rivers, Imo and the FCT,” she said.

During the training,Barr. Nnaemego-Okonkwo said farmers were used for practical sessions on integrated organic farming adding that farm demonstrations on climate resilient agriculture were also carried out, leading to production of well-packaged liquid and organic manures that were sold out.

She said the second phase of the project, which ran between 2016 and 2017, was implemented with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and called on the Federal Government, civil society organisations and the media to join in the campaign to create more awareness on climate change adaptation in the country.

A director in the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Dr Claudia Ringler, said it was heart-warming that the youths were working to “touch every aspect of agriculture to have a good balance”.

She stated that looking at the growing population, the country needed to do more on the development of agriculture and that the Y-Farm project was capable of raising an army of young farmers to boost the country’s agricultural production.

The organisation, said she, is looking at the challenges in execution the project with the aim of addressing them to make it better.

A senior agricultural officer at the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD VCDP), Mr. Nura Lawal, lauded the youth organisation for focusing on building a climate resilient generation.

He said this would help in assisting farmers to know the right things to do, assurance that his organisation would do everything possible to see that the project met its objectives.

Mrs Ijeoma Anyanaso, one of the beneficiaries of the Y-farm ll project in FCT, said the programme had helped her to expand her business and increase her income.