A total of 500 Anambra farmers will benefit from the Co-operative Farmers Scheme sponsored by John Bosco Onunkwo Foundation, a private initiative. The scheme, which is distributing fifty seed yams to farmers across the twenty-one local government areas of Anambra state, has commenced the first phase of the programme in Aguata local government area.According to the founder and sponsor of the scheme, High Chief John Bosco Onunkwo, the program is aimed at ensuring food security as well as encouraging Anambra farmers in their trade. Onunkwo stated that the program is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu administration noting that the Agenda of Renewed Hope has given impetus to what his Scheme is doing with farmers in the state.He said, “As you can see what is going on in this cooperative is making sure that every member of the Cooperative is taken care of and these are yam seedlings for 2024 planting season and what we are doing is to share these yam seedlings in such a way that each member gets 50 yam seedlings.
”How does the foundation ensure that the beneficiaries are real farmers, and that the objective will be met? Chief Onunkwo allayed fears of sabotage. He said, “We make sure that we follow them from the point of cultivation, nurturing to weeding.” But the monitoring is also beneficial to the farmers, he said, “If fertiliser is needed we teach them how to use fertiliser to cultivate and harvest bountifully.
”Emphasising on why Nigerians must embrace agriculture now, aside from it being a way of increasing food production, he said, “White collar jobs are no more in existence and what we have now is blue collar jobs to make our people rediscover their roots and we are talking about food production, we are talking soil, we are talking about agriculture. God has given us land in Awa, in Umunze and other places the cooperative has secured land so we encourage everybody and as you can see that it is yielding great results.”Onunkwo noted that the project has up to three to five phases, adding that another phase will come up comprising the twenty-one local government areas of Anambra state and the 364 wards in the state.
He lamented that the economy is not stable but expressed happiness that the regime of President Tinubu is working hard to revive the economy with his Renewed Hope Agenda.“The Cooperative is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President, which has to do with fighting hunger and food crisis as well as improving the agricultural sector of the economy”, he said.
