The National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), Ilorin has organised a training programme for cassava production cluster farmers in Kogi State.
The training which was conducted in collaboration with Kogi Fadama Coordination Office was rounded off at Iresuare in Adavi local government area of the state.
Mr Samuel Ochai, the project engineer in his opening remarks said the aim of the training was to reduce the drudgery in farming by introducing the farmers to small farm tools as part of the mechanised processes.
Ochai noted that the global trend in agriculture was mechanized farming, adding that there was the need for farmers to adopt the technologies and get acquainted with the tools and machines.
Mr David Jaiyeoba of NCAM, one of the trainers, commended the state Fadama Coordination Office for organizing the programme, saying that the farmers had to be guided to graduate from use of hand labour through small farm tools to mechanised farming.
He said that the farmers were trained in the use of small tools like cassava lifters for harvesting of the produce as well as the long arm hoes to curtail too much bending of farmers during weeding of the farms among others.
