I 18
DAILY TRUST
Tuesday,June28,20 11
Busines/Agric
Adamawa NDE trains farmers in modern techniques From [bl1lhimAbdul'I\ziz,YoIa
M
ARY Adamu isasin-
or
Sic mother two from Oligari village of More local gov-
ernment in Adamawa State.
She has no college education and that makes her opportunities
ofgettingwhitecollarvnyUmitcd.
But she must work to r~ herself and two dtildren..
She
completed
5«ondilry
school with a grade that allows heT" entrance 10 coUegt but her peas:!.Ill parents could not afford the fees.. She began plaiting women's
hair and peasant fa rming 10 earn moncy. For her. each
w.r ushcrtd In
more worries and uncertainties. Sometimes, she gelS menjaJ jobs from which she makes little monty
but more often she sta)~ without
workand money. 1111s is the condition of many village women in the stale, WhOR lives are chal'lllclerized by uncer· tainties. Orucial statistiC!! estimated
that about 40 perunt of people in Adamawa Srate are unc:mploym. wlLile thousmds survive by doing occasional work - non-permanent manual work l11C~re are many women like Mary in the slate. The situation is worse for women in mr.tl arC3S. K'Tgh numbers of mrnl women ~ illiterl!.te and alleast 70 percent work 35 smaU-scale fanners. pfO\iding the bulkofthe states food suppl)~ Their wages are dismally low and often uncertain. Uving \\iUlout mcaru ofliv~i hood was Mary', daily routine life pattern Wltil shc cnroUed in the Nalional Director.lk of Employment (NDE)'s Rural Agricultural DCI.'('lopment Training Schemc (RADTS). Mary like her other tr.linces also face an uncertain future.. -While in high school, I would
pta!t my schoolmatn' hair for a few naira.. On completing school and wltll no employment and even worse, no capital, I couldn't set up a salon, but only rely on local farmlog; Marysaid.. For four yean she worked from her home. But It wu not a ~ tar business and she had difficulty attracting ncw custolTlCf1_ "It was very frustrating becallSC why would Ul(~~ycome to my house instead of going to UIC salon wherc there are facilities 10 wash and dry their hair before braiding? I nceded a .....ork station and equipment to dh'CrSify my suvices.1o the absenl of any I depended on my farm; she
Rural Agri cultural Dc-.'dopment Training Scheme (RADTS). In the scheme, male and female trainees could apply for loans that would be ~d in irutallments Ol-er a predetermined period And .ner they had success(ully compIded paying the first loan, they .....ould beciJgible fora SC'COnd and even a third loan of greater amounts. -I was not very excited t.hcn because there: ..... ere all these: rumours about this initiative being a g<n'UTlmcnl ploy to .....oo volers.. But l was laler convinccd thai it was a good id~ TIley requiml no collateral, so il was very mticing~ she
.~d
Togctherwith other locaJ fanners, Mar)' Adamu enroUed Into tlle training schemc with possible hopes 10 gel NDE's as.sistancc and also 10 access the loan facility that
In 20 10, Mary attcnded a women's group m~ting and learnt about 80l'emment's drive to empowcr women cconomicaJJy through thc
.,;d
will be facilitated by thedim:torate. 10 Adamawa State. Maryisonly oncofthe 700 rannen that received training on new modem farmlng techniques and access loans since the inaplion thc NOE's Rural Agricultural Dcvdopment Train-
or
ingScheme(RADTS)s~)'nT5ago..
She is expected to change her fami lyi circumstances (rom ~ing poor to comfortably middle-class_ Theywill be trained in grairu prod uction , poultry, fish (arming and caltlc rearing. While launch ing the 2011 Rural Agricu ltural Development Training Schcmc (RADTS), the state Coordinator of the NDE, A1haji Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo. said RADTSwasan annual programme orpniscd by the directorate during the rainy season. Csaid lhatthCtcainins would pro\ide the minces thc opportunity 10 acquire both theoretical and practical knowtedgeoftheir chosen l1e1d o( agriculture. F1kpo added that under the programme, the trainees would undergo theorydass for one month befon: being attached 10 well estab· lished (arms fur the praaical aspect At Ute end of the programme, the NDE ....'Ouid support and assist the graduands 10 access credit facilities from banks to enhancc and establish (arming busincu activi-
H
ti~
Hc assured o( the diceclor.ales commitment to agricullllrc, SmaU Sc::aIc entrepreneurship. special community work as wd.l as Vocational training prognunrnes. TIle state coordinator called on guvttnment at alllcvcls to partner
\I;th NOE lO\vards poverty reduction bycrcatingjob opponunity for the teeming un-cmployctl youths roamiogabouL TheAdamawa Branch Manager of the National Agricultural Cooperath'C and Rural DC'VCIopmenl 8w (NACRDB) .Hajiya Asabc Gurama, promised that the bank would give acdit facilities 10 the trainccs after graduation. -NACROB is willing to hdp farmen to be moreacti\"e and interested in the farming business and I''C can clinch a better deal on loans and the repayback procedures,-she said. She commended NACROB for assisting farmen I,.;th loans. sayIng tile 8 per cent interest rate ....'aS moderate. The ptmlanent secretary in the state Ministry o( Agricul ture Dr Lou.s Manda....'1 said no (ewer than 30,000 farmen in Adamawa Stale arc undergoing trainIng on ne..... farming techniques, under the Management Training Plot (MTP) across the 21 local govemment areas of the state towards making agriculture a pa)ing business in thc5latc.. Hc said that thc trai n~s. to be known as 'farmer leaders' and drawn from the 226 ....'Irds in the state, were expected to train others on the completion of their training as thc government had madc agricu lture the focus of its Konomic dt"'.-elopment agend~ "MTP aims at boosting (arm ing, which is the major occupation 0( people in the state; he said_ Wilh this. it is hoped Ihal MIT)' and her 1m would be able to rontribute to the economic de ...elopment o( tile state as .....ell a5 tllal of thdr family members.