The Abia Livelihood Improvement and Family Enterprises, Niger Delta (LIFE-ND), on Wednesday, organized a step-down training on the use and application of standards, weights, measures, and packaging for selected beneficiary farmers.
Speaking at the event in Umuahia, the Abia Project Coordinator for LIFE-ND, Dr Uchenna Onyeizu, said the training was designed to equip the participants with practical knowledge to improve product quality, packaging, and marketability.Onyeizu described the programme as part of LIFE-ND’s ongoing efforts to strengthen capacity across agricultural value chains.
“One of our many programmes for beneficiaries is focused on building their capacity on packaging so they can sell their products on time and make the profit they need.
“The sustainability of any agribusiness depends on the profit it makes,” he said.
Onyeizu regretted that many farmers currently sell at farm gates for low returns due to limited knowledge of value addition.
The training, he said, would help them process, package, and rebrand their products to command higher market value.
The State Agribusiness Promotion Officer (LIFE-ND), Mr Godwin Chukwuekezie, said that accurate measurement and branding were key to building investor confidence and sustaining businesses.
“If you sell 20kg and the buyer receives 15kg, he won’t come back.
“Proper measurement, packaging, and labelling give your product identity and make you traceable and credible,” Chukwuekezie said.
One of the resource persons from the State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr John Gabriel, urged farmers to brand products with their own identity rather than using foreign names.
“We encourage you to have the confidence to brand your products with your own name so that in time, the product can be known and even go international.
“Pricing should also be based on the value you bring to the table, not just what your neighbor is selling,” Gabriel said.
The LIFE-ND Marketing Specialist, Nkechi Kalu-Chukwu, who organized the training, said the event became necessary after off-takers, during negotiations, asked farmers for the kilogramme price of their products, which many could not provide.
“We encourage social mobility in agriculture.
“The training gives them knowledge on pricing, branding, packaging, and measurement so they don’t sell below value,” Kalu-Chukwu said.
She further said that the 50 participants, including the incubators and incubatees, were expected to step down the training to other beneficiaries, extending the knowledge to LIFE-ND’s 4,379 beneficiaries across the state.
A participant, Mr Kingsley Odemelam, an incubator from Uzuakoli in Bende LGA, said the programme had already helped him to improve his business.
“Before LIFE-ND, I wasn’t doing packaging. They taught me why it’s important and helped me get branded bags.
“They also taught us record keeping and how to track prices,” Odemelam, who is into rice production and processing, said.
The News of Nigeria (NAN) reports that LIFE-ND is a Federal Government project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development with support from the Niger Delta Development Commission.
It is designed to enhance income, food security, and job creation for rural youths and women in the Niger Delta through agribusiness. (NAN)
