The Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, FCT Administration has trained agricultural field officers to provide efficient services to farmers, towards achieving bumper harvest in the territory.
The Mandate Secretary of the secretariat, Mr Lawan Geidam, said at the training in Abuja on Friday, that the training was designed to improve the capacity of the officers to provide technical support to farmers.
Geidam, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Grace Adayilo, said that the training tagged, ‘Prevention, Identification, Diagnosis, and Management of Common Crop Diseases,’ would equally cut post-harvest losses.
He explained that a significant number of famers recorded huge losses due to ignorance of good agricultural practices in mitigating crop diseases, pest infestation and poor storage management techniques.
He urged the field officer to build the needed knowledge and capacity to be able to teach farmers how to combat crop diseases that impede productivity.
The mandate secretary
reassured farmers of FCT Administration’s commitment to support farmers with a view to boost agricultural production.
‘The Minister of FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, and the Minister of State, FCT, Dr Mariya Mahmoud are taking proactive steps towards achieving the collective aspiration for food and nutrition security for all residents of FCT,’ he said.
The Permanent Secretary also highlighted the importance of integrating traditional methods with modern agricultural practices to get the best of the planting season.
Adayilo said that the integration was necessary considering the difficulties small-scale farmers face in accessing advanced agricultural technologies.
She assured the farmers of the full support of the Agriculture Development Project, adding that the project was a grassroots initiative to ensure that government programmes achieved the desired impact.
Mr Ofili Beneath, acting Director, Department of Agricultural Services, said that the department would continue to engage farmers across the 62 wards of th
e FCT and provide them with critical information.
Ofili expressed confidence that the training would strengthen knowledge-based agricultural practices and bring prosperity to the FCT farmers. (NAN)
Source: News Agency of Nigeria