Tomatoes-Farming-447x184To the youths it was a dream come through, it would be recalled that the State Employment and Expenditure For Results Project (SEEFOR), an intervention project of the World Bank and European Union (EU), in collaboration with Songhai Delta have empowered 250 youths in tomatoes farming.

The essence of the youth training programme by the World Bank, EU, Songhai Delta was to engage and support the young farmers in expanding their knowledge base on high breed tomatoes farming and help to boost their productivity in the country.

Delta Coordinator of SEEFOR, Mr Benson Ojoko, recalled that since 2014, SEEFOR had been in serious engagement with the World Bank on how to diversify its areas of intervention to include empowerment of youths in agriculture entrepreneurial skills in the country.

That SEEFOR had been engaging and assisting six technical colleges owned by Delta State government and had also diversified to support three vocational training centres located in the three senatorial districts of the state.

The coordinator further disclosed that the empowerment programme being the maiden edition had three focus areas, adding that Songhai Delta would be empowered to be able to carry out the training programme.

The Delta Coordinator of SEEFOR, Mr Benson Ojoko, made the disclosure in an interview with the Newsmen on Monday in Asaba the capital of Delta State, Nigeria.

He disclosed that the youth empowerment programme, commenced sometimes in the month of June, the programme focused on hybrid tomatoes farming.

The youth programme would last for two weeks, adding that at the end of the training beneficiaries would be provided with starter packs to enable them take off.

Mr. Ojoko further asserted as follows, “For this year’s training programme, we are focusing on crop production and we are going to train and empower them in the production of high breed tomatoes variety.

“The areas are to improve the learning environment, to build the capacity of instructors and teachers as well as to empower the youths of Delta.

“On the improvement plan, there is provision for fund for acquisition of irrigation materials that will enable the youths to carry out all year round farming.

“There is also provision for nursery where all the seedlings will be nurtured before transferring them to one place or the other, there is also provision for daily consumable all through the training period,” Ojoko said.

That Agbor Technical College, Sapele Technical College, Utogba-ogbe Technical College and Ogor Technical College among others had benefited from the grants from the programme.

“Since the initiation of these grants to technical colleges and vocation institutions in the state, the numbers of students’ enrollment in the institutions have increased.

“By May this year, World Bank gave us the approval for the intervention in agriculture,” he said.

“The essence of the grant to the various technical and vocational institutions was to fund activities that were documented in the schools in order to improve the learning environment of the students.

The youths in Delta expressed happiness over the empowerment programmed by the world renowned organization, the World Bank, European Union (EU) and the Songhai Delta.