Efio-Ita Nyok|15 June 2016|6:42am
Women farmers in the state have been assured of support of the Cross River State House of Assembly to enable them succeed.
The assurance was given recently by the Speaker of the Assembly Rt. Hon John Gaul Lebo when a delegation of Women in Agriculture Co-operative Association (WIACA) Cross River State Chapter visited his office.
Rt. Hon John Lebo said supporting women in Agriculture has become very necessary for food security adding that it would help to accelerate efforts towards making the women and families self-reliant.
He urged the association to liaise with the House Committee on Agriculture with a view to achieving faster intervention or support of the Assembly in its programmes and activities.
The Speaker also charged the women to key into the on-going FADAMA III additional financing programme on Cassava, saying the House would do its best to ensure that the Association got the needed support from the state government.
Earlier, the state president of Women in Agriculture Co-operative Association, Hon Mrs Elizabeth Bassey Etta who lauded the exemplary leadership of the Speaker in the 8th Assembly, intimated that the association was established in 2013 and has chapters across the 18 local government of the state.
She said that the Association since inception has been able to mobilise women farmers into clusters of different crop value chains namely Rice, Palm oil, Cocoa, Plantain, Banana, fisheries, poultry and Cassava adding that one of the crucial plans of the WIACA was to massively grow Cassava in the state, thereby helping to position the state as leading producer of the produce.
The WIACA Cross River chapter president lamented the exclusion of farmers from the state from agricultural organisations operating within the Niger- Delta region, requesting the assistance of the Assembly to enable women farmers in the state be recognised by the Ministry of Niger-Delta as well as the Cross River State Government.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroidhaven.org (Negroid Haven)
