FG, Gombe govt train 100 youths, women farmers in post-harvest losses reduction
The Federal Government in collaboration with the Gombe State government has embarked on a two-day training for youth and women farmers aimed at reducing post-harvest losses.
Mrs Monilola Udoh, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science, Technology and Information in her opening remarks in Gombe on Tuesday said the training would exposed farmers to modern innovations to reduce post-harvest losses in the agricultural sector.
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Udoh said the agriculture sector was key to the Federal Government in view of the need to ensure food availability and job creation, hence the ministry was leveraging technologies to assist farmers in reducing post-harvest losses.
Represented by the Director of Bio-resources Technology and Innovation Department at the ministry, Mr Isaac Anum, Udoh said the aim of this training was to bring to participants’ consciousness on what post-harvest losses were.
“ And how they affect productivity and the appropriate technologies that can be deployed to reduce waste to the barest minimum.”
The permanent secretary described post-harvest as the degradation in both quantity and quality of agricultural products from harvest to consumption.
“Quality losses include those that affect the nutrient/caloric composition, the acceptability, and the edibility of a given product.”
Udoh said that the ministry was committed to helping farmers and those in agro-allied sector in curbing post-harvest losses, enhance productivity and make agriculture profitable to farmers.
On her part, Dr Aishatu Maigari, the Gombe Commissioner of Science Technology and Innovation said Gombe State being an agrarian state with 80 per cent of the population engage in farming and farming-related activities.
According to Maigari, the workshop was timely as government is diversifying its economy and investing more in agriculture, human capital development, science, technology and innovation, infrastructure as contained in the 10-year Development Agenda for Gombe State.
She called on the participants to leveraged the training to improve their income and cut post-harvest losses in their communities which would translate to boosting food security in the state and country.
Malam Saidu Saleh, a participant who farms millet in Gombe told newsmen that the training would help farmers in the state minimise losses and increase income of farmers.
Saleh commended the Federal Government as well as the Gombe State government for efforts at ensuring that farmers were exposed to the modern technology and innovation aimed at preserving farm produces across the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the workshop is “Post-harvest Technologies: Panacea for Agricultural Losses.”
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