Abakaliki – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) on Monday trained 25 farmers in Ebonyi on importance of adequate nutrition in households.
Mr Sunday Ituma, the IFAD-VCDP State Programme Coordinator (SPC), at the training said that the programme realised the importance of adequate nutrition to the health and productivity of farmers.
“IFAD-VCDP realizes the gap in mainstreaming nutrition in its programme implementation and that is why its national office organised this training.
“The training is for selected participants in five benefiting local government areas of the state as it is one of the interventions advocated during the last midterm review of the programme.
“The trainees are expected to propagate this message at the grassroots to ensure that nutritional gaps are adequately filled in their respective areas,” he said.
The programme coordinator urged the participants to take the training seriously to acquire requisite knowledge.
“I never knew before now that obesity is a form of malnutrition as most people believe that being overweight is as a result of feeding,” he said.
Mrs Fransisca Anya, the Rural Institutional Gender Youth Mainstreaming Officer (RIGYMO) of IFAD-VCDP in Ebonyi, said that the trainees were expected to train 30 farmers in each of the five benefiting local government areas of the state.
Anya listed the benefitting LGAs as Afikpo South, Ikwo, Izzi, Ishielu and Ohaozara.
“The local government areas should ensure that the trainees are capable of executing the task so that at the end of next IFAD-VCDP mission assessment, we will be rated high in the nutrition aspect.
“The importance of adequate nutrition in households cannot be over-emphasised because farmers who feed adequately are healthy and ensure high production of crops and other agricultural products,” Anya said.
The lead Consultant at the training, Mrs Nkiruka Nnaemego, offered tutorials on the need for household to ensure that varieties of nutrients are contained in the food they consume.
Nnaemego said that tutorials were also offered on the need for farmers to engage in healthy living, family planning and antenatal opportunities, especially by pregnant women and ascertain their Human Immune Virus (HIV) status
