By Modupe Gbadeyanka
No fewer than 50 rice farmers in Edo State have been trained by a United Nations agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The beneficiaries were drawn from farm rice clusters in the state and the training is aimed at building their capacity on field management of seeds and padding production.
A Director in Edo Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Wellington Omoragbon, informed the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Sunday that the training was in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI)’
According to him, “It is a new initiative designed to sustain rice development and production in the sub-Sahara Africa.
“It is designed to empower small scale rice farmers and to support them with improved seeds and agro-chemicals at 80 per cent subsidy.
“The farmers will also get assistance in the marketing of the yields.”
He noted that farmers from Illushi, Anegbete and Agenegbode Local Government Areas of the state participated in the exercise.
Adedapo Adesanya