TheCable

The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) has trained 70 agro-service providers across the nine Niger Delta states.

In a statement on Thursday, the organisation said the training is to equip service providers with new business skills, practices and processes to improve their service delivery to Niger Delta farmers and enterprises.

The workshops, which took place in Warri, Delta state and Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state under PIND’s Market System Development (MSD) project, provided the service providers the opportunities to network and share peer-to-peer knowledge.

Effiong Essien, PIND’s programme director, said the end-goal of the workshops is also to improve the lives and livelihood of the small-holder farmers, micro-small-and-medium-enterprises (MSMEs) and service providers through skill-building and skill-sharing.

“The workshops provided training on business development and management, business sustainability, capacity building, customer relationships, marketing/sales support services, and strategy development, among other skills,” he said.

“Thanks to their training, most of our service providers have now positioned themselves to serve as a bridge between farmers, enterprise groups, and other agro-allied actors.”

Gabriel Udo, a participant, thanked PIND for the opportunity to be part of the training and shared the impact it has had on him.

“I have attended other workshops and training, but this is more exceptional. It is more impactful and I’ve learned a lot. Due to this training, I am already making calls informing my workers in my farms of what to change,” Udo said.

Miller Felicia, an oil palm farmer from Rivers state, said, “I’m highly favoured to be among the participants. This training has given me an edge. My blood is hot to deliver. In every business, you will succeed if you have a vision. You must also have value. I am not the only service provider, but people cherished me because I know how to reward them. PIND has given me the innovation to go and practice.”

Since its inception in 2012, PIND’s MSD project has reached 931,699 farmers and MSMEs in the Niger Delta with information on agricultural and business best practices. 457,728 farmers and MSMEs adopted knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) that improved productivity to the tune of N51.4 billion.