The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Kogi State Enterprise Development Agency (KEDA) Hon. Rekiya Onaivo Sanni has asked youths and women in the state to take advantage of the opportunities in the oil palm production value chain.
The Managing Director stated this in the course of her paper presentation at a one day workshop on resource mobilization for grants and starter funds for small holder farmers in Kogi state organized by the Participation Initiative for Behavioral Change in Development (PIBCID).
In her paper presentation titled: Linkages Establishment for Value Chain Based /Alternate Funding Access by Women and Youth, the Managing Director/CEO, who described Oil Palm production as lucrative, lamented that the attitude to managing oil palm production value chain has not been given attention post discovery of Petroleum.
Hon. Sanni called for adequate sensitization that would help expose the benefits inherent in oil palm production and extraction, said women and youths have alot of role to play in oil palm production, she called for an easy means to accessing seedlings and fertilizers by farmers, urged for entrepreneurs to look for opportunities in the challenge of oil palm production to make a success of the business.
The KEDA Boss described the value chain available in oil palm production as a reliable tool for stimulating the economy, she urged women and youths to take advantage of the many opportunities in oil palm production by approaching funding Institutions for support.
She further noted that there is a need for women and youths to diversify from focusing on the traditional production of oil palm produce for domestic consumption to industrial such as Pharmaceuticals, Biscuit manufacturers, noodle manufacturers among other sectors in the value chain.
She added that there is need for multisector collaboration between Government Agencies, Development Sector, Private Sector in information dissemination to access available supports from donors, federal and State Govt levels.