75 young people drawn from various agricultural organisations would lead the drive by the Enugu State government to improve and stimulate agroecology among the youths in the state
 
At a one-day capacity building workshop organised by the state government in partnership with the South Saharan Social Development Organisation (SSDO) and ActionAid Nigeria, the government said it was poised to build strong networks that would ensure collaboration among various agricultural groups with a view to enhancing outputs and effective coordination.
 
SSDO’s head of Programme, Udochukwu Egwim, stated that the initiative became necessary following the discovery that many groups working on agriculture in the state “are operating in silos”.
 
He stated that bringing them together would ensure stronger collaboration and networks, enabling them to benefit from available agricultural resources in the state.
 
“We are partnering with Actionaid Nigeria and the Enugu State government to carry out this activity, which is geared towards bringing together different agro ecology groups in the state, civil society organisations, development partners, government agencies and ministries.  The idea is that we have different organisations and programmes on agriculture, but they are working in silos.

There is no harmony or coalition that brings them together, and this has resulted in having programmes running in the state without the young people knowing about it,” he said.
 
He cited a programme by an international organisation last year, aimed at empowering about 600 young fish farmers, regretting that though the state had more than the number, it could not meet the demand due to a lack of a database or networks.