By Peter Uwumarogie
Gombe – Prof. Fatima Sawa, the Provost, Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin-Kowa, Gombe State on Thursday said over 10, 000 women and youths had been trained on various agricultural enterprises in the state.
Sawa, who disclosed this in Gombe during a courtesy call on the state governor, Inuwa Yahaya, said the college had been giving such training since 2005.
She said that the move was part of the Federal Government’s effort in creating employment for the youths while empowering women through various agricultural skills acquisition programmes.
The provost said that the training has had economic impact on Gombe through wealth creation.
According to her, there are more opportunities that could be leveraged to create wealth for the state and enhance the standard of living of the citizen
“We have helped Gombe State; we have trained over 10, 000 women and youths on various agricultural enterprises since 2005 that we started our academic session.
“This is part of the effort from the Federal Government to create jobs for women and youths through agricultural enterprise like fish farming, horticulture and others,” she said.
She said the college would support the state government in developing the agricultural sector to reduce unemployment while creating more wealth for the state.
Sawa commended the state government’s initiative to plant 1, 000, 000 trees every year within the next four years, adding “it is a novel initiative to regenerate our environment, reduce soil erosion and improve soil quality.”
She stressed that with more support and modern equipment, especially the automated green house, the college could produce flowers for exports.
In his response, Gov. Yahaya commended the efforts of the college in empowering women and youths, adding “human capital investment is the bedrock of development.”
While pledging to support the college in empowering more youths, the governor stated that the college could leverage on the agricultural potentials in the state to venture into flower exportation to Europe and other countries.
(NAN)
