• SUSTAINABILITY

NAOC’s Farmers’ day celebrations in Bayelsa celebrate youths

The yearly meeting of the Green River Project, the agricultural enhancement initiative in the Niger Delta, gathers the agricultural successes from Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Imo states.

The 22nd edition of the Farmers’ day - the event organized by NAOC and her partners to celebrate the farming season with farmers, cooperatives, research bodies, schools, institutions and NGOs linked to the company’s flagship Green River Project – took place in Igbogene Bayelsa state, Nigeria, on December 1st.

 

The theme for this year was “Youths: agents for agricultural development in the Niger Delta”, a recognition of the fact that agriculture can trigger youth employment as well as facilitate sustainable development in the region. It was carefully chosen because of NAOC’s numerous impactful projects geared towards empowering the youths in particular and the people of the Niger Delta in general.

“Our focus with the Green River Project has always been to make farming very attractive and accessible to our women, the youths and children”, Alessandro Tiani, General Manager District, Port Harcourt, said during the event. “Particularly, we focused on secondary schools, exposing these groups and communities to the formation of cooperative societies, to techniques of modern farming, provision of the necessary supports and tools, and other schemes.”  “For the past more than 30 years, the NAOC-Green River Project has remained a success story by not only being a cardinal source of employment, but also a veritable tool for sustainable development and food sufficiency” Lorenzo Fiorillo, Managing Director, NAOC, commented at the event.

 

The Green River Project was designed to increase agricultural productivity and prevent deterioration of the soil through the use of better farming techniques, to enhance farmer’s income. Also, it aims at improving the quality of life of farmers through the adoption of improved sustainable farming systems and therefore contributing to the improvement of the livelihood of the households in NAOC operational communities in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Imo states. The celebration day also included the traditional awards, in categories that include the farmer of the year, the best fish farmer, the best livestock farmer, best youth co-operative, best women co-operative, best plantain farmer, best pineapple farmer, best livestock farmer, just to name a few. A true celebration of individual talents and of collective achievements.


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