Federal College of Horticulture Dadinkowa donates farming Items, cash to 100 Farmers

By Bashir Hassan Abubakar 

A total of 100 small scale farmers in Bauchi and Gombe States, at the weekend, smiled home with farming inputs and 50,000 Naira Cash donated by the Federal College of Horticulture Dadin Kowa, Gombe State. 

The distribution of the items and cash was held at the conference hall of Destination Hotel, Gombe,

at the weekend.

Beneficiaries were small scale farmers drawn from rural communities in Bauchi and Gombe States.

In a welcome address at the event,, Mr. Kingsley Anyiam of INECHECK Consultants, that provided the technical support for the exercise, said that the empowerment effort was an initiative of the Federal Government through the Horticulture College.

Anyiam said the gesture was aimed at improving the living standards of vulnerable target groups that cut across men, women and youth within the North Eastern States of Bauchi and Gombe. 

He said that, when utilized, the initiative would no doubt ensure food security at household level, the two states and Nigeria as a whole. 

On his part, an official of the  College, Mr. Haruna Ayuba said that the selection of beneficiaries was painstakingly done using evidence based eligibility to target the right beneficiaries. 

Ayuba then called on the beneficiaries not to sell the items, but utilize it in creating wealth through food production and value chain system. 

In a goodwill message, a member of Bauchi traditional institution and community leader,  Alhaji Is’haq Sambo urged the beneficiaries to utilize the items and cash for the intended purpose. 

Alhaji Sambo, who is the Sarkin Fulanin Bauchi, thanked the management of the Federal College of Horticulture Dakin Kowa and INECHECK Consultants for the meticulous manner they deployed beneficiaries in ensuring that the items got to the intended target in the Two States of Bauchi and Gombe. 

Earlier in his remarks, Coordinator of the empowerment programme at State level, Mr. Umar Abdulhameed said that his team had gone round  several communities to identify beneficiaries using the criteria spelt out in the selection process. 

Abdulhameed then thanked the beneficiaries for the orderly manner they demonstrated throughout the selection process pointing that it was a worthwhile exercise that paved the way for the empowerment program. 

Speaking to our correspondent on the sideline, a beneficiary, Mariam Iliya expressed her gratitude to the Federal College of Horticulture and INECHECK Consultants for leading the process of distributing the empowerment items without fuss or rancor. 

Mrs Iliya assured that the items and cash received would be judiciously used for the intended purposes. 

Other beneficiaries also thanked the Federal Government and implementers of the empowerment program for their thoughtfulness and seamless implementation of the exercise.