Posted by Barr Peter Mbah, Governor of Enugu State, has stated that the State government’s initiative to transform agriculture via innovation is in line with the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme (ATASP – Phase 1).
At the commencement of the ATASP-1 (Adani-Omor Zone) Steering Committee Meeting on Wednesday in Enugu, Mbah made these remarks on behalf of the Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation, Chief Nwabueze Ubru.
He said that farmers in border areas between Anambra and Enugu had benefited greatly from the ATASP-1 project.
“Take advantage of the learning, improved seedlings, good pest control method, and agricultural extension services within the programme,” the Governor urged young people and women in the villages.
Sustainable employment and participation of rural people, especially our youths and women in Adani axis of Enugu State and Omor axis of Anambra State, is being created through ATASP-1, which is building 21st-century agricultural companies in rural areas.
“It has led to reducing restiveness among youths in rural areas and making them to be productively engaged,” he explained.
Mbah promised that the State government would maintain funding for the initiative and suggested that it be broadened so that more people in rural areas might benefit.
The meeting’s goal, as stated by Dr. Romanus Egba, the Zonal ATASP-1 (Adani and Omor) Co-ordinator, was to reflect on the work accomplished by ATASP-1 in the zone during the first half of the year and beyond.
Egba stated that the meeting’s focus would not be limited to discussions of the program’s successes and failures in delivering its farming efforts, but rather would also examine the program’s community/rural project successes and failures.
So far, the program has increased investment in agriculture and ensured food security in the two States, as he put it.
This year, “we are striving to put up infrastructure for functional irrigational facilities for massive dry seasoning farming within the communities that are participating in the programme,” he said.
Transitional Committee Chairman of Ayamelum in Anambra, Mr. Livinus Onyenwe, commented on how the initiative has improved rural residents’ ability to make a living and get involved in their communities.
I’m grateful to ATASP-1 for providing jobs to hundreds of young adults and repairing rural roads and bridges in the council region.
For the program’s success, he added, “I will also call for more involvement and investment of the participating State governments in terms of support and counterpart funding payment.”
Mr Chinedu Nnadi, speaking on behalf of Chief Solomon Onah, Executive Chairman of Udenu LGA, expressed gratitude to the ATAS-1 co-funding institutions for their unwavering dedication to the improvement of life in rural areas.