The Senator representing Edo South Senatorial District, Senator Neda Imasuen, has distributed over 12,000 cocoa seedlings, 9,000 plantain suckers, herbicides and knapsack sprayers to farmers from across the seven local government areas that make up his constituency. He also presented the farmers with financial support after a training on modern farming approaches. The exercise was coordinated by the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN).
Senator Imasuen said that the training and empowerment exercise was meant to increase the farmers output so as to boost their economic fortune.
Imasuen said, “The training was meant for farmers within and mostly outside Benin. Farmers are in Ovia, Orhionmwon and Uhunmwode Local Government Areas and they need training on agriculture as they dwell in rural areas and that’s my target, especially cocoa farmers.”
According to the lawmaker: “The programme is mainly for cocoa farmers because many people don’t know that Edo land is fertile to the extent that if we harness our land very well, Edo will be in third position of cocoa production in Nigeria.”
While promising to sustain the farmers empowerment programme, he also disclosed plans to train traditional birth attendants, in collaboration with Primary Health Care (PHC) in the senatorial district.
According to him, “We also have a lot of things in the pipeline,” adding that “we are training ten tailors who have been taken to Abuja and provided free accommodation for a period ranging from six months to one year. We want to teach them how to fish, not just give them fish, so they can become independent.”
In addition to these initiatives, the Senator said he has installed several solar street lights across the seven local government areas in the senatorial district.
Some farmers, who spoke, including, Mrs Igiebor Rose and Mr. Moses Kadiri, thanked Senator Imasuen for the empowerment programme, describing the training as an eye opener. They urged him to continue the laudable gesture to raise the poor, especially in this period of economic hardship.
