The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on Thursday trained 60 poultry farmers from Edo and Delta states on advanced production techniques.

The ministry also distributed one cartoon of day-old chicks and feeds to each participant under the presidential programme on food security.

Declaring the training open, the permanent secretary of the ministry, Ernest Umakhihe, said it was geared toward improving the livelihood of youths in the two states through capacity building and empowerment.

Mr Umakhihe, represented by Rose Igbinedion, a senior agric officer in the ministry, noted that the smallholder farmers constituted about 70 to 80 per cent of the agricultural production in Nigeria.

“However, they are faced with challenges emanating from inadequate access to financial services and feed problems in poultry production.

“It is, therefore, important for the youth to be supported, trained and empowered to address the challenges of gender inequality, unemployment and poverty.

“The ministry thus developed a training and empowerment programme on modern methods of poultry production to provide the easiest and most readily accessible agri-business to support 60 youths in Edo and Delta states,” he said.

According to him, the training will help the participants to meet their immediate household socio-economic obligations.

Also, the ministry coordinator in Edo, Samuel Owoicho, said the training and empowerment programme was part of the government’s efforts to mitigate the challenges confronting poultry farmers in the two states.

Mr Owoicho noted that the programme was another evidence that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration was committed to the success of poultry farmers.

In his welcome address, the programme manager, Edo Agricultural Development Project (ADP), Edward Izevbigie, thanked the federal government for the gesture.

Mr Izevbigie urged the poultry farmers to take advantage of the training and empowerment to create wealth for themselves.

(NAN)