Horticulture: The Federal Ministry of Agriculture has concluded the training of 100 widows and youth in Gombe state on horticulture.

The beneficiaries drawn from Dukku/Nafada Federal constituency of the state were trained under the constituency project of a member of the House of Representatives, Hajiya Aishatu Jibril Dukku and facilitated by the Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin Kowa.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the training in Dukka LGA, the led trainer, Engineer Hamza Shehu, said the projects aimed to build the capacity of the widows and youths on modern techniques of irrigation.

Engineer Shehu, therefore urged the beneficiaries to pay attention and not sale the agricultural inputs distributed to them, “you should put them in to use in the farms for the purpose it was meant for, in order to boost the production.”

He said the training was one of the several interventions given by Aishatu Dukku to the people of her constituency, as part of effort to bring succor and make them self-reliant.

Shehu added that the widows and youths were trained on processing of crops like tomatoes, okra and new methods of planting, harvesting and storage of the products.

He called on them to implement what they have learnt in order to develop their farms and contribute to the economy.

Our correspondent report that the at the end of the training, the beneficiaries were given starter pack which includes; liquid fertilizer, spraying machines, modern seeds, insecticides, mats and N10, 000 each.

Bukar Drills 120 Tube Wells To Boost Farming In His Constituency

en. Mustapha Bukar (APC-Katsina North), has started drilling of 120 tube wells across the 12 Local Government Areas of Katsina North Senatorial District so as to promote agriculture.

An aide to the senator, Alhaji Hannafi Salisu, made this known on Monday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Daura.

NAN reports that a tube well is a type of water well, in which a long wide stainless steel tube or pipe is bored into an underground aquifer for pumping water out for irrigation purposes

Salisu said that 10 tube wells would be drilled in each of the 12 local government areas of the senatorial zone to promote irrigation farming and boost food security in the neighbourhood.

He said that the drilling of the tube wells had since commenced in the farms of selected beneficiaries, while each well was equipped with a water pumping machine and other accessories for maximum utilisation.

Salisu said that the tube wells would be drilled for the beneficiary farmers free of charge, adding that scope of the project would soon be expanded to accommodate more farmers

A beneficiary farmer, Malam Sani Zimbo, who spoke to NAN on behalf of the beneficiaries, commended the senator for the unprecedented gesture.

He described Bukar as “a true son of the soil’’ who had the interests of the masses at heart.

Zimbo pledged that the beneficiaries would make judicious use of the wells by engaging in aggressive irrigation farming, adding that the gesture would facilitate efforts to generate employment and alleviate poverty among the people.

NAN reports that the senator had also empowered more than 2,000 unemployed youths via skills acquisition training and provision of seed capital for the successful trainees.