Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited and Value Drivers Investment Limited have partnered to empower entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector.
The three-week knowledge empowerment initiative, tagged ‘Total Agriculture Entrepreneur Skills Acquisition Training Program’, was aimed at empowering youths and boosting agribusiness in Nigeria.
The free and fully residential programme was sponsored by Total, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, focused on building the capacity of participants on agribusiness in cassava, vegetables and snail production.
“This programme was designed with the objective of delivering top quality agricultural training that empowers Nigerian youths with livelihood skills,” said Charles Ngeribara, general manager -corporate social responsibility and sustainable development, Total in a statement made available to BusinessDay.
“Through our capacity development initiatives, Total aims to empower as many people as possible and actively support nation building efforts in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals numbers one and eight, which are ‘no poverty’ and ‘decent work and economic growth’ respectively,” Ngeribara said.
The training programme involved classroom and field work in a reputable farm, facilitated by world class faculty drawn from Lagos Business School, Dominican Centre and other experts across the various agribusiness value chains.
Also, Uzoh Nwankwo, CEO, Value Drivers Investment in a statement said “at the end of the intensive residential training facilitated by agribusiness value chain experts, we are optimistic that participants have been empowered with the best knowledge to venture into agribusiness with confidence.”
Nwankwo commended Total for their support in making this initiative a reality.
“The participants had an all-round knowledge and experience across various areas such as farming methods, risk assessment, farm produce branding, marketing, packaging, finance, business models and planning among others,” he added.
Giving the closing remarks, Nelson Ahaneku, chairman, Value Drivers Investment, encouraged the beneficiaries of the programme to go out and pave ways in the agribusiness sector.
“Our wish is for you to go far and for your products to be supplied nationwide and beyond,” Ahaneku said.
As part of the closing ceremonies, the beneficiaries, drawn from different parts of Nigeria were given starter packs to help them begin their journey.
The attendees expressed gratitude to the sponsors and the organisers, while beaming in optimism that knowledge gained from the programme will help them a great deal.
The classroom training took place in Lagos while the field training was delivered at Dominican Farms Centre in Ibadan, and International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for first-hand information on research, modern and mechanised agriculture.
Josephine Okojie
