The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has collaborated with a Chinese company, Lima Machinery Company, on improved mechanized farming to empower women, improve agriculture, and boost national revenue.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, said this while receiving some staff of the company in Abuja on Friday.
Kennedy-Ohanenye said the collaboration would empower women with skills to boost agricultural productivity and generate revenue for farmers and the nation.
“This will not only keep them busy but, away from criminal acts, make money because communities will come together to do this work as brothers and sisters.
“They will give us modernized and mechanized farming tools to make it easy for Nigerians to do this work, which will help them to make more profits without overworking themselves. “So that we will multiply what we use
“This will make a better future impact than what we have been doing with advocacies, meetings, and lavishing the whole money, while the major people the money is meant for are suffering,’’ she said.
Kennedy-Ohanenye added that the collaboration would be on a rice milling project and the provision of mechanized farming tools for the sustainable empowerment of women in Nigeria.
The minister added that a portal would be brought up to enable the farmers to get access to buyers, distributors, sellers, advertisers, and marketers both at the local and international levels.
She explained further that there would be hubs to sell off excess produce that would yield huge profits for the farmers. “There will be hubs, like a warehouse in each local government, where if you cannot sell all, you notify the hub operators.
“So that the villages will have access to these hubs to show what they have and are placed on the portal alerting the buyers, who will make their demands.
“We are also planning for them to have butchering locations in each of those hubs, so that they can go there butcher with packaging machines and freeze to be distributed across the nation, which will bring down the cost of food and enable the farmers to get more money,” she said.
She added that a fish grilling machine locally fabricated to grill 500 fish every two hours, powered with gas, biogas, and charcoal, will be distributed as part of its sustainable empowerment programs for women in Nigeria.
Responding, , Sales Manager of Lima Machinery Company, China, Mr. Gatsby Kang said the collaboration will further strengthen the existing relationship between the two countries.
“We want to use our equipment to help the local people using machines because technology can bring huge yields in production and make meaningful differences in their lives,’’ he said.
He added that the feeds that would be produced were healthy and contained locally sourced food in the right proportions to boost the growth and development of the animals that would be feeding on them.
In another development, the minister added that the ministry had taken legal action in Enugu court against a mother and stepfather over negligence, sexual molestation, and infecting diseases on a nine-year-old girl.
According to her, court procedures have commenced against Mrs. Christabel Ewuru and her husband, Mr. Ifeanyi Ewuru, to ensure they are prosecuted and the survivor gets justice.
She added that the owner of Peace Mass Transit, Dr. Sam Onyishi, has promised to take up tuition for the girl’s education from primary to university level.
Similarly, the minister also disclosed that the first court sitting on Nov. 21 was against some staff on duty and management at the Maitama General Hospital over alleged negligence and refusal to treat Miss Greatness Olorunfemi was the victim of “one chance’’ before her death at the hospital.
According to her, taking legal action against those found guilty will serve as a deterrent to others and ensure people are held accountable for their actions and inaction.
