Farmers Receive Training On Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture

The FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF) Programme have recently started training the personnel of Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP), FADAMA staff and farmers in nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

This was disclosed in a statement by Mr Tunde Oladunjoyelo, the World Bank Media Consultant on FADAMA, on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr Nath Olayinka, the State Project Coordinator, said that that the aim of the training was to expose the participants to the best ways of retaining food nutrients during food preparation.

He said that the training was also aimed at developing good eating habits and boosting the food security of the state.

He said that a human nutrition specialist was engaged to share knowledge, ideas and skills with the participants, while equipping them with the wherewithal that would enable them to disseminate the information effectively to farm families.

Speaking, Mrs Iroko Ibukun-Oluwa, Director of Extension, OYSADEP, urged the participants to practise and disseminate the knowledge they acquired in the training to farmers.

She said that OYSADEP would put in place a feedback mechanism to ensure that the knowledge was successfully delivered to farmers.

Also speaking, Dr Thomas Adepoju, Head of Department of Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan, said that nutrition was the bedrock of all development.

“It studies the process in which living organisms take in and make use of food for the production of energy, the functioning of organs and tissues, maintenance of life growth, reproduction and elimination of waste products from the body.’’

Adepoju, who said that the cycle of malnutrition and poverty could be drastically reduced via behavioural communication strategy, urged the participants to share the knowledge with the farmers and facilitate the transformation of agriculture into agribusiness.

Alhaja Dauda Ayoade, the Secretary to the FADAMA Community Association, who spoke on behalf of the farmers, commended the FADAMA III (AF) Programme for the nutrition-sensitive training.

She pledged to convey the knowledge which was acquired in the training to other members of the production clusters and groups.