The Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) and some members of House of Representatives in at least three northern states have trained selected farmers on how to trade their produce on the floor of the commodity market for them to optimally reap the reward of their sweats.
The training, which came in form of empowerment, took place in Benue, Plateau and Jigawa states.
In Benue, over 50 women drawn from all council wards of Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency of the state were exposed to essentials of commodity market.
Head of Communication and Strategy at NCX, Mr. Chris Echikwu, in his presentation, said there was need for Benue, being the agricultural hub of the country, to expand market for its commodities such as sesame, maize, soybean and sorghum amongst others in the global commodity exchange world.
Echikwu said the commodity exchange would help to protect farmers against inherent risks in agricultural produce marketing through hedging in the exchange as well as address the problem of products quality while the opportunity would increase funding for agricultural activities and at a reduced cost.
In Plateau, the NCX also partnered with a member of House of Representatives representing Mikang/Qua’an-Pan/Shendam Constituency of the state, Johnbull T. Shekarau, to train about 150 farmers on capacity building for the commodity market and the use of NCX trading system.
The sensitization, which took place at Shendam Local Government Area of the state, had in attendance participants from the Mikang, Qua’an-Pan and Shendam local government areas.
Addressing the participants, a consultant, Dan Usman from Yakubu Dauda-Mama & Co., explained that the government established NCX to provide price-discovery mechanism, protect farmers against inherent risks in agricultural produce marketing through hedging in the exchange and to increase funding of agricultural activities at reduced cost.
In his presentation on the importance of warehousing, Deputy Manager, Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), Abiodun Oladotun, said the warehouse minimized post-harvest losses that often affected farmers, promotes quality productivity in the agricultural sector and ability by the farmers to have access to credit facilities from the banks.
In Jigawa, the NCX has commenced training for over 600 small holder farmers on the usage of commodity market.
Participants are from Buji/Birni Kudu Federal Constituency of the state, where the NCX is partnering Magaji Da’u Aliyu, a member representing the constituency at the National Assembly.
The Assistant General Manager, Marketing of the NCX, Ezikiel Doma, said the training had begun with about 100 farmers under the first batch.
He said the NCX would put in place an organized market for small holder farmers where there would be an organized competitive price system for their produce.
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