The Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) in collaboration with Palm Valley Nigeria Limited (PVNL), through the Integrated Community-led Network of Hope (ICON2) Project, has empowered 1,733 groups of 52,000 women and youth farmers resident in Nasarawa, Benue and Kaduna States with improved seeds, fertilizer and approved pesticides to produce 1,733 hectares of rice and maize and ensure food sufficiency in the target three states implemented by Palm valley Nigeria LTD.
Our correspondent reports that WOFAN had partnered PVNL to implement its ICON2 project funded by the Mastercard Foundation, which is designed to provide decent and fulfilling job opportunities to 10 million youth farmers and processors between 18 and 35 years in the next 5 years through a sustainable agricultural growth and economic development in Nigeria.
WOFAN is reaching out to Nasarawa, Benue, Northern, and Southern Kaduna states , among other states in the country, the partnership with the Palm Vallet Nigeria LTD.
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The Founder and Executive Director of WOFAN, Hajia Salamatu Garba, made the disclosure at the flag-off of input distribution for the 2024 wet season and onboarding of 420 new cluster and peer leaders in Lafia during the 2024 activities.
Garba explained that the ICON2 project is a 5 years project that aims to strengthen agricultural enterprise value chains, generate employment opportunities for 675,000 youths and enhance income for women and youth farmers and processors.
The founder of WOFAN disclosed that the agro inputs being provided started with initial flag of for 65,000 hectares in Nassarawa but in total it will reach a total of 1733 heactares under the Palm Valley support to farmers in 3 states. Input distributed to the Project partners include UREA, NPK Golden Fertilizer 20-10-10; Faro 67; Aflatoxin; Samaz 55 Maize; Pre and Post emergence Herbicides, among others in the three target states
“My advice to the farmers is to appreciate supports like this and make good use of them to increase their means of livelihood. Salamatu further stated that ” if any farmer uses these inputs properly, the farmer is going to get improved yields because we have provided all they need to have a successful wet season farming,”
Also speaking at the event, the Project Manager and Chief Executive Officer of Palm Valley Nigeria Limited, Ezekiel Jatau, urged the women to prioritise their self development, while calling on the men to support them to grow beyond where the society had placed them.
He further stated the commitment of the organisation to inclusivity, stating that they had included Persons With Disabilities in their empowerment schemes and other marginalised groups in the country.
In his speech, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Umar Abubakar Dan’akano, called on the beneficiaries to utilise the inputs to achieve the best results while commending WOFANPVNL for the empowerment programme.
Dan’akano, who was represented by one of his political allies, Hudu Iliyasu, assured of the state government’s commitment to continue to give the needed support to all agriculturalists in order to ensure food sufficiency in the state.
“Let me urge our women farmers to fully deploy the knowledge they have acquired through WOFAN and PVNL to surmount the challenges of unstable weather conditions, floods, pest infestation, birds invasion, among others,” he added.
One of the community partners who spoke on behalf of the others, Blessing Ntaye, thanked both organisations and the Mastercard Foundation for supporting them with the farming inputs and promised to use the items judiciously.
