Edo Government on Tuesday said it would partner the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN) to reduce unemployment in the state.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Wealth Creation, Cooperative and Employment, Mr Joel Edionwe, stated this while receiving a delegation of FACAN in Benin.
He said Gov. Godwin Obaseki’s desire, was to create jobs and get the teeming jobless youths employed to fend for themselves and their families.
He said funding or investing in agriculture was not the state government’s problem but how to get the farmers in clusters.
Edionwe assured FACAN of government’s willingness to provide the needed policy framework and the enabling environment for it to succeed in the state.
Earlier, the Chairman, FACAN, Edo chapter, Mr Enahoro Ojiefoh, said they visited to intimate government of their plans to educate the farmers on the need to add value to their farm produce and create market for them.
“FACAN is here to serve and create jobs with you,” he said.
He said that if the state government could collaborate with the association, it would provide over 1000 jobs, in line with its job creation policy in the state.
Ojiefoh said that the state was blessed with vast land which could be put into good use for agricultural purposes.
He urged the state government to collaborate with the body so that there would be enough farm produce to export.
He said the state did not have enough farm produce to export currently.
The delegation also visited the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to solicit its cooperation to enable it to succeed in the state. NAN
