By Job Osazuwa
The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) has trained 70 agro-service providers across the nine Niger Delta states to equip them with new business skills, practices and processes to improve their service to Niger Delta farmers and enterprises.
The two workshops, which took took place in Warri, Delta State, and Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, under PIND’s Market System Development (MSD) project, gave the service providers the opportunity to network and share knowledge.
PIND’s programme director, Dr. Effiong Essien, said the end goal of the workshop was to “improve the lives and livelihood of the smallholder farmers (SHFs), micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and service providers through skill-building and skill-sharing.”
The workshops provided training in business development and management, business sustainability, capacity-building, customer relationships, marketing/sales support services and strategy development, among other skills.
A participant, Gabriel Udo, thanked PIND for the opportunity to be part of the training and shared the impact it had on him: “I have attended other workshops and training, but this is 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.”
Miller Felicia, an oil palm farmer from Rivers State, said: “I am 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 cherish me because I know how to reward them. PIND has given me the innovation to go and practice.”
PIND’s MSD project focuses on the services market and employs a service provider model, which leverages the capacity and skills of the service providers to boost overall market efficiency, productivity, and income.
At the end of the training, the PIND service providers are expected to use their learned skills to help smallholder farmers and MSMEs in various value chains such as cocoa, poultry, oil palm, cassava and aquaculture in the Niger Delta to improve their efficiency, productivity and income. They train the farmers and entrepreneurs in best farming practices, business management, soft skills and conflict sensitivity.
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.
“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,” said Effiong.