Agriculture experts have said that the capacity training programme on small ruminant production and crop residue processing being carried out among 900 farmers and extension agents in Kwara State is capable of making the state regain its lost glory in milk production.
Speaking during the closing ceremony of a five-day capacity training workshop, packaged by Synergy Impact Consultant Limited for another batch of 100 farmers and extension agents, in Ilorin on Thursday, the Coordinator (Training) at the Centre for Dryland Agriculture (CDA), Kano, Professor Murtala Badamasi, said that the trained youth would galvanise the process to realisation.
“We see that Kwara was once a milk production state. Why is it that we’re taking that off the list? How can we regain that? We can only regain that if we have a knowledge-based infrastructure that supports targeted intervention that would allow for this to come back,” he said.
Professor Badamasi, who said that the youth had been trained to improve agricultural production in the state, added that, “with the right infrastructure and assistance”, the state would welcome local and foreign investors in milk production among other agricultural value chains.
“With this, investors would look at Kwara State as a landscape where they can thrive in terms of milk production, meat production, and all other value chains in the livestock sector.”
The agriculture expert, who said that the training programme is capable of addressing perennial farmer-herder conflicts bedevilling the agricultural sector due to livestock feeding, added that feeding takes 70 per cent of livestock production cost.
Professor Badamasi said that the training on crop residue processing for improved animal utilisation would help reduce the cost.
He encouraged the state government to provide machines needed for crop residue processing, e.g. crushers, to the youth to facilitate an enabling environment.
“Given the fact that people have created a need for processing the residue. Ab initio, you don’t process the residue. Which means a new sector in the ecosystem would emerge. A new fabrication in commercial quantity would emerge. And these fabrications can only emerge when the government provides seed funding for them to thrive. That’s possible, and the industry can begin to boom around that. That could also have a multiplier effect on the existing economic landscape of Kwara State,” he said.
Speaking with some of the participants at the training programme, AIG Ishola Babaita (rtd) commended Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on the efforts in agriculture, saying that the governor is bequeathing a worthy legacy with the programme.
“This programme focuses on youth, and when youth are busy with something worthwhile, especially on small ruminant production, there’ll be a reduction in criminality and youth unrest. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop, so says the adage.
“I’m a retired police officer and I’ve been a farmer all along. I participate in the training workshop to improve my knowledge. Learning is a continuous process.
“Small ruminant production is not too difficult, provided one is equipped with the necessary knowledge. So, I just urge the government to support them. Apart from this training workshop, the government should give them a non-monetary take-off grant in the form of livestock and machines (crusher).”
Also speaking, a retired Assistant Controller General, Correctional Service, Mr Kayode Odeyemi, commended the programme, saying that the knowledge gained would improve agricultural production on his 18-year-old farm at Omupo, Kwara State.
“The training has opened my eyes to new things in agricultural practices, especially the production of small ruminants for commercial purposes.
“Fortunately, I have an all-encompassing farm: big animals, small animals, crops, poultry, etc. The crop residue and all that would help in the production of animal feeds for ruminant utilisation, particularly with the knowledge freshly acquired.”
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