By Obinna Unaeze
All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Niger on Monday said that the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) has trained its members on agri-business toward tackling poverty.
Alhaji Shehu Galadima, AFAN Chairman in the state, who disclosed this to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna, said over 300 farmers belonging to 16 cooperative societies across the state benefited from the gesture.
“We are partnering with VSO to train our members in agri-business.
“After the training, milling and threshing machines for rice and various grains were given to them in form of grants,” he said.
Galadima explained that each cooperative made up of between 16 and 20 farmers, got both milling and threshing machines.
“The milling and threshing machines worth millions of Naira were fabricated locally to meet the needs of the farmers,” he said.
The chairman said that the farmers were trained for five days and successful groups selected to benefit.
He said that AFAN has about 1.6 million members in the state.
Hajiya Fati Mohammed, a member of one of the groups, told NAN that the intervention would alleviate poverty among the farmers and their families.
The VSO, based in London, is a non-profit international development organisation, with a vision for a “world without poverty” and a mission to “bring people together to fight poverty and marginalisation.”
