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By Oboh Linus, Lafia
The Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has trained no fewer than 50 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) on urban farming to boost food security in Nasarawa State.
Dr Michael David, Executive Director, GIFSEP, disclosed this while speaking at the training in Lafia.
According to him, the training “Operation Feed Yourself for Persons with Disabilities” which aims at empowering them to grow their foods, is a continuation of the African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ) project on urban farming, with support from Oxfam in Nigeria.
The GIFSEP executive director said urban farming is adaptable for the PWDs because it could be done in the comfort of their own houses without walking a long distance to the farm and exposing themselves to insecurity.
“Over time, we have noticed that persons with disabilities are left out in so many things; politically, education-wise, and now agriculture.
“Considering the food inflation in the country and the drive for people to produce their foods, we decided that it is important not to leave them behind.
“So, we introduce them to urban farming using recyclable materials like sacks and containers as long as they have a little green space in their homes they can grow their foods using irrigation,” he said.
He said was impressed to see PWDs actively participate during the training and the practical, noting that it would further unite them in building a community of PWDs and share some of the challenges they have together.
“It’s a way of releasing emotions and depression, because they have disability does not mean they cannot add value to the society.
“They can grow food not only to feed themselves but also to feed the nation, especially at this time that the country is struggling with issues of security and food security,” he said.
Dr David said he would expand the training to become a national programme for the PWDs to get them off the street to use their productive time to do something important like farming to better their lives.
“So, hopefully, we will get support and partners who can also expand it, we have millions of PWDs in Nigeria, and we must be able to engage and empower them through initiative,” he said.
Mr Ajav Abraham, An agriculture extension agent, and a facilitator trained the participants on making and sack farming to promote urban farming and subsequently engaged them on practical.
Mrs Asaba Averson, Coordinator Advocacy for Women with Disabilities, Nasarawa state who spoke on behalf of the participants thanked the GIFSEP for expanding the urban farming training to more of her members.
“We sincerely appreciate the GIFSEP and the partners for extending this training to my members as promised when they visited my farm, we will use the training to grow our foods,” she said.
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