As part of its corporate social responsibility and blazing proclivity to empower women and youths across the nation with the ability and capacity to create wealth and drastically mitigate the spate of joblessness among youths through the provision of opportunities in agribusiness and entrepreneurship, Premium Agrochemicals Limited in collaboration with its partners (IAED, CITAD, and NDE) had organized a one-day sensitization training seminar, which had as its theme, “Sensitization Training Programme for Women and Youth Entrepreneurs,” on Sunday, 21st September, 2022, at the CITAD Complex, NSITF Building, Opposite Trade Fair Ground, Kano, Kano State. The seminar was fully supported by Premium Agrochemicals Limited (PAL) under its Community Support, and Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes.
Main Aim and Objectives of the Training Seminar
The primary aim of the seminar was to enable Nigerian women and youth entrepreneurs, Agro Input Dealers and Agro-allied Dealers across the nation to acquire and enhance their knowledge in sustainable crop production, modern techniques in fish farming, bee keeping (apiculture), forestry (conservation and preservation), animal (small ruminant) farming, poultry farming, and develop entrepreneurial skills in agribusiness required for exploring the vast and endless opportunities that abound in Agro Entrepreneurship.
The Objectives of the Training Seminar
• To build and develop capacity of women and youths towards embracing agriculture and agribusiness as income-generating enterprises via intensive training on best practices across value chains of various commodities
• To build entrepreneurial skills of women and youths in agribusiness towards attaining financial independence and self-reliance
• To create novel techniques in agribusiness and entrepreneurship capable of curtailing unemployment among women and youths in the country
Participants at the Training Seminar
Participants at the training seminar were drawn from different groups and individuals, which comprised of the following.
Trainees: The trainees consisted of 300 participants (200 males and 100 females) from across the nation. Although, majority of participants under this category came from Kano (250), who attended the training seminar physically; however, some of them (50) attended virtually through zoom, with the support of CITAD. They included individuals that studied various programmes like Agricultural Science, Pure and Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Social Sciences, Arts et al., at higher institutions.
General Public: Participants under this category covered 200 individuals and groups (120 males and 80 females), which included academics, Agro Dealers, Women and Youth Entrepreneurs, Agro Input Dealers, Farmer Groups, Resource Persons, Traditional Ruler, Captains of Industries, and Representatives from Governmental and Nongovernmental Organisations (NGOs). Therefore, the total sum of 500 participants attended the training seminar.
Resource persons drawn from different organisations and institutions
Given below is a list of professionals, who made presentations on different topics during the Technical Session of the event.
1. Prof. Musa Tukur Yakasai (Consultant to PAL): Presentation of Lead Paper on “The Opportunities for Nigerians in Agro Entrepreneurship”
2. Dr. Bello Abba/Abbas Sherif (Director, NDE, Kano State): “Livestock Production, Processing and Marketing for Wealth Creation and Sustainable Livelihood”
3. Dr. Mrs. Umma M. Nabate (Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil – KUST):“Opportunities in Crop Production and Marketing for Export”
4. Alh. YZ. Yau (Director, CITAD): “Application of ICT in Agro Entrepreneurship”
5. Mal. Ahmad Muhammad (Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta, Kano State – ABCOA):“Modern Techniques in Fisheries and Aquaculture”
5. Mal. Abdullahi Rabiu (Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta, Kano State – ABOA):“Innovative Methods in Poultry Farming”
6. Prof. Ahmad Usman Shuaibu (Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil – KUST):“Rare Opportunities in Agribusiness/Finance”
7. Mal. Ahmad (CITAD): “ICT in Agribusiness”
Other Very Important Persons (VIPs)
1. Alh. Idris Sani (State Coordinator, National Directorate of Employment – NDE)
2. Alh. Kabir Y (Representative of the Managing Director, Premium Agrochemicals Limited – PAL)
3. His Highness Alh. Abubakar Sule Gaya Dan Goriban Kano (Royal Father of the Day)
4. Alh. Aminu Bello (Registrar, KUST)
5. Mal. Abubakar Musa Garba (Staff, Premium Agrochemicals Limited – PAL)
Invited Media Outfits
The following radio, television, newspaper, magazine and digital social media outfits were invited to give full coverage and documentation of the event.
1. Tardigrade Multimedia Publishers (prints and digital publishing and broadcast)
2. Rahma Radio and Television
3. ARTV
4. Daily Trust Newspaper (Aminiya)
5. Aminci Radio
Opening remarks by Prof. Musa Tukur Yakasai (Convener of the seminar)
The convener of the training seminar, Prof. Musa Tukur Yakasai, warm-heartedly welcomed all participants to the training seminar. During his remarks, he emphasised on the indispensability of the training seminar to the trainees and the general public. He further informed the participants that Premium Agrochemicals Limited (PAL), in collaboration with its partners, had organised and hosted the training seminar as part of its corporate social responsibility to its host communities and the larger society.
His words, “To our distinguished Guests, Royal Father of the Day, Resource Persons, Captains of Industries, New Trainees and Graduating Trainees, Farmer Groups, Agro Dealers, Major Fertilizer Distributors, Representatives of both Governmental and Nongovernmental Organisations, Gentlemen of the Press, I wish to say a very warm welcome to you all. I wish to assure you all that this seminar is packaged with highly educative materials and our resource persons have been chosen carefully from the best of brains. Once again, it is my strong belief that at the end of this training seminar, you will have nothing to regret at all, as it would go a long way in dramatically changing the mind-set of our youths, who hitherto misconstrued agriculture and farming as crude and archaic professions meant for the aged ones and those in rural areas only.”
“It is my pleasure to inform you that this programme is organised and supported by Premium Agrochemicals Limited in collaboration with its partners – IAED, CITAD and NDE, as part of its corporate obligations.”
“In synopsis, Premium Agrochemicals Limited (PAL) is one of Nigeria’s prime conglomerates that has intensified efforts in expanding its operations rapidly in the country’s fully integrated rice value chain. PAL has been persistently facilitating the actualization of the Federal Government’s “Transformation Agenda,” via agricultural productivity.”
“It would please you to know that Premium Agrochemicals Limited (PAL) has mandated me to assemble a team of agricultural scientists, extension service workers, experts in different fields of agriculture, lecturers of agricultural courses, and institutes of agricultural research to attend this event to deliver lectures on different topics of agriculture, agribusiness, entrepreneurship and value chain. Therefore, I wish you all a happy training time. “
Welcome Address by Alh. YZ. Yau (Director, CITAD)
The Director of CITAD, Alh. YZ. Yau, was unavoidably absent and ably represented by Mal. Ahmad – a pioneer co-founder of CITAD, pleaded that his boss had travelled out of the state for an inevitable reason, and that even though he was absent physically; he was however digitally present with the audience wherever he was.
His words, “It is glaring that my boss, who is supposed to be here physically to perform this function, has travelled out for obvious reasons; however, he is digitally present with us wherever he is at the moment.” Therefore, on his behalf, I wish to thank the organisers of this epoch-making training seminar, Premium Agrochemicals Limited and Institute for Agro Entrepreneurship and Development, as well as their training and research partners – National Development of Employment, and Centre for Information Technology and Development. I want to assure you that agriculture is key to success in life, and information technology is the catalyst to key. This is because it is through agriculture that we get the food we serve on our tables. However, we need information technology to effectively engage in large scale agriculture. Nowadays, information technology has made the distribution of farm inputs such as fertilizers, exotic animal breeds, hybrid crop seeds, et al., very easy,” he said.
Address by Alh. Abubakar Sule Gaya Dan Goriban Kano (Royal Father of the Day)
The Royal Father of the Day, His Highness Alhaji Sule Gaya, while commending the efforts of Premium Agrochemicals Limited towards successfully organising the seminar, as well as blending high quality slow release Magic Fertilizers in Nigeria, reiterated that the High Quality Magic Fertilizers produced by PAL would go a long way in mitigating the challenges incessantly faced by Nigerian farmers across the nation. He promised conveying the message of what he learnt at the seminar to his people.
His words, “From what I have learnt here, I can attest that Premium Agrochemicals Limited is sincerely and really doing a great job just for the benefit of our people; not for its mere gains. For this reason, I will personally convey the good news of the great works of this great company to my people, and at the same time, encourage them to adopt and patronise all of your fertilizer brands produced with novel technology, and other products,” he noted.
“Once again, it is on this note that I wish to extend my warm appreciation to the management and entire staff of Premium Agrochemicals Limited and organisers of this seminar training, which is quite incisive, educative and of immense benefits to our people. Thank you all,” he concluded.
Sensitisation Training Programme
The three (3) topics covered at the 1-Day Training Seminar included the following.
• Sensitisation Training Programme for Women and Youth Entrepreneurs – aimed at transforming their mind-set
• Sensitisation Seminar for Agro Dealers on Opportunities in Agro Entrepreneurship – aimed atcreating effective chain of distribution for PAL’s agrochemicals and products; production, marketing and utilisation of crops; small ruminant animals; fish, forestry, and bee
• Showcasing the Efficacy and Superiority of various brands of Agrochemicals Limited Fertilizers over the existing conventional ones to Agro Input Dealers participants at the seminar.
Sensitization Training Programme for Women and Youth Entrepreneurs
In his presentation, Professor Yakasai had advised youths to consider agriculture, especially agribusiness and entrepreneurship as very lucrative business to undertake without demure. Similarly, the lecture was meant to create a change in the mind-set of the trainees, who incessantly look at farming, or better put agriculture, as a mere activity for old people and illiterates, but as a career with pride, which is capable of eliminating unemployment, thus providing gainful jobs to our teeming unemployed youths, including graduates of higher institutions. In the same vein, he reiterated the commitment of PAL in collaboration with its partners to focus primarily on agriculture, animal farming, fish farming, poultry, crop production, agribusiness and entrepreneurial skills training and development to curtail the precarious menace of unemployment among youths in the country. Likewise, he stressed that participants and other stakeholders should, as a matter of urgency, consider agriculture as a business that is of immense benefit to all and sundry. Besides, he had hinted that the training topics would be handled by only academics and professionals in various fields of specialisation. Introduction of high table guests was concurrently done by the convener, Professor Musa Tukur Yakasai. At the end of his remarks, he had briefly discussed the components and efficacy of the various brands of PAL fertilizers (MAGIC 20-10-10, MAGIC 15-15-15, and Golden Grain 20-10-10), as well as urged the participants to patronise them for bumper harvests.
His words, “The rate of unemployment across the globe, especially Africa, has been steadily snowballing on daily basis, thus calls for proactive measures by all stakeholders to nib the menace in the bud. Nigeria for instance, the arguably giant of Africa, records high youth unemployment rate of about 24% and 70%. Moreover, the exacerbation of social vices such as terrorism, kidnapping for ransom, trafficking in humans; regional, ethnic and tribal unrests, as well as economic downward spiral in Nigeria, may not be unconnected with the high rate of joblessness among youths.”
“Furthermore, this sensitisation seminar is organised to create awareness, expose and re-orientate Nigerian women and youths on productive engagement in agriculture via robust opportunities in agribusiness, extension service provision and entrepreneurial agriculture in such a way that it would provide huge benefits to communities and the society in general.
“Gone are the days when white collar jobs used to wait for graduates. Today, such jobs have unceremoniously disappeared into thin air. Governments and giant companies in the country and across the globe have decried persistent rise in unemployment annually. Therefore, agriculture has ever remained the only hope and succour to the teeming jobless graduates and illiterates alike.”
“In fact, it is very disheartening that our youths have today relegated agriculture and farming activities to the background. Worse still, they associate it them as jobs for the poor, rural dwellers and illiterates. Therefore, they subject those who practise agricultural activities to objects of opprobrium and laughing stuff. However, nemesis is gradually but surely catching up with them as their preferred jobs are nowhere to be found nowadays. And the same cornerstone rejected by the builder is tending to be the pillar supporting the roof of the building today.”
“Nigeria is a case study, where farmers are seemingly the richest toady. However, mere farming cannot meet the desired results. What is more important is how to commercialise the farming activities in which we engage. To create colossal and real wealth from agriculture has to do with adopting agribusiness and entrepreneurship, as well as appropriate value added chain. All these can be achieved via direct participation in farming activities, choosing appropriate fertilizers, processing the harvested farm produce and adding value to the harvests. With these, high profit is guaranteed.”
“It is glaring that no crop farming activity can be successful without the application of appropriate fertilizers. In essence, fertilizer is the most indispensable factor in crop farming. When it comes to the choice of appropriate fertilizers, Premium Agrochemicals Limited various brands of Magic and Golden Grain fertilizers remain the answer.”
“Basically, there are two types of fertilizer: inorganic and organic fertilizers. The organic and conventional fertilizers are usually applied to crops (two to three times) only when they have grown to certain stage, but for the Premium Agrochemicals Magic fertilizers, application and sowing of seeds are done almost simultaneously. And they are applied just for once; not in repeated doses of two or more unlike the conventional ones. This technology is new here in Nigeria, but its adoption and practice has gone far across the globe. For instance, foreign nations like India, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, America, and Senegal (in Africa) have adopted this technology. Therefore, Premium Agrochemicals Limited decided introducing this revolutionary technology to the country to measure its efficacy and suitability to our soils.”
“Let me give you our success story here in synopsis. We have three demonstration farms – one at Dakasoye, one at Warawa near Wudil, and this one here in Gafan. Each of these farms is further divided into eight portions containing different brands of conventional fertilizers, which serve as control for the experiment, and Agrochemicals Limited High Quality Magic Fertilizers (HQMFs) serve as test samples for the experiment. Repeated experiments and outcomes consistently revealed that HQMFs are by far better than their conventional counterparts. Moreover, similar experiments were conducted here last year, during rainy season, but this time, we deliberately chose to try it out during dry season farming to compare and contrast the efficacy of the slow released fertilizers on rice between rainy season and dry seasons. The three brands of High Quality Magic Fertilizers blended by Premium Agrochemicals Limited are MAGIC 20-10-10, MAGIC 15-15-15, and Golden Grain 20-10-10. They are highly scientific in their formulation and working mechanisms. And the innovation is primarily made bearing in mind the agricultural economics of farmers – that is, minimizing wastes or losses and maximizing or scaling up farm produce and profits. These fertilizers are technically produced in such a way that, if crops are meant to take one hundred days to complete their lifecycle; the fertilizers will not hurriedly deplete their contents, but rather release them slowly until the hundred days elapse. This is contrary to the conventional ones that rapidly leach their contents into underground water or drowned by surface water even before the fertilizer needs of crops arise, thus profusely starving them of basic nutrients. The HQMFs have utterly proven their superiority over conventional ones in terms of quality and quantity of crop yields, availability, affordability or cost effectiveness and the colossal profits they attract to farmers.”
He had also disclosed that as part of fulfilment of the company’s corporate social obligation, it was willing to award scholarships for studies in Agriculture-based programmes to eligible Nigerian youths; to sponsor Agro-based research projects; seminar trainings; field work and other relevant events. Likewise, he pledged on behalf of PAL, automatic employment of the potential scholarship awardees upon successful completion of their studies. He also reiterated the company’s readiness to employ fresh graduates of agriculture with demonstrable academic excellence and zeal to put into practice what they studied. In addition, he revealed that the company had recently employed ten (10) Nigerian graduates of Agriculture, chosen randomly from across the nation without gender, religious, age, ethnic or tribal disparity or prejudice.
His words, “As part of its corporate social responsibility, Premium Agrochemicals Limited is willing to dole out scholarship awards to eligible young Nigerian males and females who intend studying agricultural programmes; sponsor agro-based research projects, symposia, seminars and trainings, as well as employ Nigerian youths, who have shown excellent academic performance, and are willing to practise the skills and knowledge acquired. Be it known that, in our job selection, we do not discriminate or prejudice any individual or group on the basis either tribe, religion, gender, ethnic descent. Our major yardstick for selection is based strictly on credibility and competence.”
“With Premium Agrochemicals Limited fertilizer distribution chains alone, our women and youths can find a very lucrative job to cater for themselves and dependents, he concluded.”
