In furtherance of efforts to achieve a bumper harvest in this year's farming season, the FCT Administration, through the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, has organized an intensive capacity-building workshop for Agricultural Field Officers of the Secretariat.



Mandate Secretary, the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Lawan Kolo Geidam, who was represented at the event by Grace Adayilo, Permanent Secretary of the Secretariat, described the initiative as a proactive strategy aimed at building the capacities of the field officers and positioning them towards the delivery of effective and efficient services to farmers.



He said that the choice of the theme of the workshop, "Prevention, Identification, Diagnosis, and Management of Common Crop Diseases," was apt considering the losses suffered by farmers due to ignorance of good agricultural practices in mitigating crop diseases, pest infestation and poor Storage management techniques.



"I urge participants workshop to see this as an opportunity to build on their knowledge which, as you step it down to farmers as expected, will arm farmers with the necessary skills to combat crop diseases that impede productivity."



He used the opportunity to reassure farmers and the FCT populace of the support of the FCT Administration under the leadership of the Honourable Minister FCT, Barrister Nyesom Wike, and the Minister of State FCT, Mariya Mahmoud, in always according priority attention to agriculture towards achieving the collective aspiration for food and nutrition security in FCT.



Speaking in her capacity as Permanent Secretary, ARDS, during the interactive session, Adayilo highlighted the importance of integrating traditional methods with modern agricultural practices, considering the difficulties small-scale farmers face in easily accessing advanced technologies.



She assured that the Secretariat will ensure the full participation of the Agriculture Development Project (ADP) who are closest to the farmers in all grassroot initiative to ensure government programmes achieve the desired impact.



The Acting Director, Department of Agricultural Services in the Secretariat, Mr. Ofili Beneth, disclosed that the Department, which is responsible for farmer engagement in the FCT, has been operating a communication channel with farmers in all 62 wards of the FCT through which vital information is made available to them.



Ofili expressed hope that the workshop will usher in a new era where knowledge based agricultural practices will bring about prosperity for the FCT populace.