By Olukayode Idowu
The Federal Government has successfully concluded its agricultural empowerment programme across six south-south states with a grand launch of Project “Earn From The Soil” in Delta State.
Mrs Gift Johnbull, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, South-South, made this known in a statement signed by her and made available to journalists in Abuja on Friday.
According to her, the launch in Warri, Delta State follows the successful rollout of the project across Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Edo, culminating in Delta State with this grand occasion.
Johnbull added that the government was now set to proceed with the full implementation of the project, which aimed to revolutionise agriculture and enhance food security in the region by promoting cooperative formation and commodity-based clustering.
She explained that the initiative aligned with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, focusing on food security, agricultural growth, and economic empowerment for women.
She said: “As a daughter of the soil, it is with great pleasure and a deep sense of responsibility that today we begin the domestication of the Women Economic Empowerment Policy (WEE) in Delta State and launch Project ‘Earn From The Soil.
“This significant event marks a critical step forward in our collective effort to economically empower women in Delta State and the wider South-South region,”Johnbull stated.
She noted that the Federal Government’s target was to reach over 500,000 smallholder farmers, agribusinesses, and fisherfolk, with a particular focus on empowering women.
“As we embark on this journey together, let us harness our resources, our fertile lands, and our people’s ingenuity to build a prosperous, food-secure, and equitable Delta State,”.
The goals of the project, as outlined by Johnbull, include: Promotion of sustainable farming practices that increase agricultural productivity, Enhancing value addition to agricultural and aquacultural products, focusing on processing and packaging,
Developing robust market linkages to ensure women farmers access both local and international markets, Fostering cluster projects that promote entrepreneurship in agribusiness and create opportunities along the agricultural value chain.
Mr Emakpor Odogu, Executive Assistant to the Governor on Community Development in Delta State, commended the timeliness of the project.
“When you are hungry and you have a means to get on and you have a deliberate course of action, it then means you have hope,” he said.
Odogu highlighted the women’s economic empowerment policy as a key component of this federal initiative, describing it as a “deliberate course of action” being put in place to alleviate hunger.
“The launch of the WEE Policy and the “Earn From is Soil” project is expected to position Delta State as a leader in agricultural development, setting a benchmark for sustainable economic growth through women’s empowerment in the South-South region,”he said.
He noted that this aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of zero tolerance for hunger and expressed gratitude to the federal government for bringing such initiative to Delta State.
The project allowed to tailor its support to the specific needs of farmers, with implementing partners like Nexim Bank, Zenith Bank, REA, UN Women, the Niger Delta, Albright Stonebridge and others offering targeted assistance based on the commodities produced by local farmers.