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Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta has called for increased activities of agricultural extension service officers to farmers to ensure food sufficiency in the country.
The governor said this on Thursday at a one-day interactive session with batches 2015/2017 beneficiaries of Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) and Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP) in Asaba.
“Agriculture remains the greatest employer of labour; it is encouraging that most of our youths that we have empowered in that sector are doing well but we must have enough people in the extension service to encourage farmers.
“I am glad that our youths have embraced agriculture, it will lead to food sufficiency and boost our drive in creating entrepreneurs.
“We are going to strengthen the mentoring and monitoring unit to ensure that beneficiaries of our empowerment programmes are encouraged to do well,” Okowa said.
The governor said that those who had succeeded in their businesses did that because they were determined to succeed.
“If you stay resolute, success story will surely come, challenges will surely come but you need to be resilient to do it right.
“I am glad that a lot of you are doing well, people in government should be able to patronise you, I am very impressed with the success stories I have heard today,”
Some of the beneficiaries, who stated their success stories and challenges, said they had great prospect to succeed.
According to Mr Itdjere Ericson and Mrs Linda Nnabundo, “the level of growth recorded within two years of establishing our businesses is unprecedented.’’
“We are capable of training beneficiaries of the skill acquisition programmes and all we need is patronage from the state government,’’ they said.