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As part of efforts to promote food security and sufficiency, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, in collaboration with the Niger State Agricultural and Mechanisation Development Authority (NAMDA), has trained and empowered youths and women in yam processing, packaging, value addition, and utilisation.
Speaking during the presentation of grinding machines to the beneficiaries of the programme on Saturday at the NAMDA office complex in Minna, Niger State Coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Ladan Suleiman, said the gesture was aimed at enhancing economic growth by creating job opportunities.
He disclosed that unemployment, especially at the grassroots, was a source of concern for the government, hence the empowerment programme to provide skills and resources to youths and women to enable them to be self-reliant and contribute to the local and national economies.
"This gesture will go a long way in reducing the rate of unemployment because when you create branches in agriculture along the value chain, people will get employed, poverty will reduce, and our economy will grow," he explained.
The programme, according to the coordinator, was across the Northwest and North Central regions.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of NAMDA, Suleiman Al-Mustapha Rijau, said the state government was committed to reviving the agricultural sector in the state by harnessing and developing the state agricultural potentials, which is why it has keyed into the Federal Ministry of Agriculture initiative in training and empowering farmers in the state.
He explained that empowerment was a federal ministry of agriculture initiative aimed at empowering youths and women to be self-employed and reliant through yam processing, packaging, value addition, and utilisation.
He added that with the training, the beneficiaries could process a lot of yam and package it for optimal utilisation through value addition.
"This empowerment programme is a good initiative, and it is timely because yam is now available everywhere in the market. There is a need to add value to it in order to make it more valuable," said the NAMDA boss.
While congratulating the beneficiaries for the successful training and presentation of grinding machines, the Managing Director of NAMDA also urged them not to sell them but to use them judiciously, adding that the agency had set up a monitoring team to monitor and evaluate the utilisation of the machines.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke to newsmen, Abosede Akintola and Kelly Dogara, appreciated the federal ministry of agriculture and NAMDA for the empowerment and that the machines would assist them in boosting their businesses, promising to utilise and never sell their machines.
Highlights of the event included a symbolic presentation of the grinding machines to some of the beneficiaries.

By Suleiman Yakubu

Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has expressed his willingness to partner with relevant organisations and entities to harness the state's potential in the agricultural sector and its value chain.
The governor disclosed this in Kano State, where he met with Alhaji Isah Mohammed Gerawa, the owner of the Gerawa Group of Companies, proprietors of the biggest oil milling plant in West Africa, the biggest rice milling company in Nigeria, and one of the biggest indigenous construction companies in Nigeria.
The governor, who was accompanied by his Jigawa State counterpart, Mallam Umar Namadi, inspected various facilities owned by the Gerawa Group of Companies, including the oil mill, extensive rice mill, and advanced crusher and asphalt plant sites.
Governor Umaru Bago later paid a courtesy visit to the Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, where they discussed vital developmental issues.