By Daniel Tyokua
The Acting Secretary for Agriculture & Rural Development Secretariat Mr. Ibe Prospect Chukwuemeka has disclosed that about 2,000 youths and women across the six Area Councils have been lifted out from poverty through poultry activities.
He said supporting the beneficeries was to boost their means of income, production and management of nutrition in rural areas.
In a statement issued by the Deputy Director Information, ARDS, Zakari Aliyu said the secretary stated this during a visit to Gwagwalda Area Council to monitor the progress made by some beneficiaries of poultry inputs distributed by the Agric Secretariat to vulnerable youths and women across the six Area Councils of the FCT.
It said the aim of the visit according to him, was to enable the Secretariat have a first-hand assessment on the impact of its intervention programmes towards the delivery of improved Agricultural services to the populace.
He stated that the minister of State for FCT, Dr. Ramatu Tijani Aliyu has been championing the implementation of grassroot empowerment programmes that have direct bearing on the lives of less privilege members of the society towards addressing issues of unemployment and poverty.
The statement citing the example of the recent distribution of livestock and inputs to Pastoralist and Farmers in FCT grazing reserves and the establishment of the FCT Aquaculture and Allied Trades Center for Women and Youth in Kwali.
Ibe restated the commitment of the Administration to ensuring that the programmes achieve the desired result which is why it places emphasis on the monitoring to ensure the sustainability of all projects and guidance for improvements.
“In order to ensure the success of this programme, the Secretariat provided each beneficiary with a minimum of 20 layer chicks and feeds each. We equally organized workshop for them on how to effectively manage their birds. As you can see, from our visit the birds are doing well and very soon the beneficiaries will start earning incomes from the birds”
