Odere Foundation Empowers 100 Bekwarra Farmers With Soft Grant, Fertilizers, Grinding Machines, Sewing Machines
Ndifereke BASSEY
The Cross River State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Mike Odere, has provided a soft grant for 100 beneseed (sesame) farmers in Bekwarra local government area.
Sir Augustine Odere Foundation also distributed 10 sewing machines and 20 grinding engines to beneficiaries drawn from the Ten wards of Bekwarra.
Sir Augustine Odere Foundation, is an initiative of Cross River state Commissioner for Finance, Mr Mike Odere, and his siblings to honor their late father.
Presenting the soft grant at the ground reception of the 2024 Bekwarra New Yam festival, (Ipem Ihihe), held on Saturday, September 7, Mr Odere, disclosed that the empowerment has been on for the past eight years.
He said: "Beneseed is very expensive outside of the country. Today, we support you with soft grant and fertilizer to enable you to cultivate beneseed, when you harvest it, we will buy it off from you and when you do well, we will add more grants to enable you to expand the farm.
"We are supporting 100 beneseed farmers drawn from the 10 wards of Bekwarra local government area. In a few years from now, I want you to export beneseed.
"Please I encourage you to make good use of these little resources that we are supporting you with".
Speaking, the Coordinator of the initiative, Mr Tom Alims, said the 100 beneseed (sesame) farmers got a two million Naira only (N2m) and 20 bags of fertilizer to assist them in land preparation and cultivation.
"We were very particular about the selection process, as only those interested in beneseed farming were identified and captured. This is so because we don't want to write names of people that will collect the money and put it into other businesses".
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs Odey Veronica Akpana, who hails from Ukpah ward, commended Mr Mike Odere for the initiative and for thinking about them.
She pledged that the beneficiaries will do everything humanly possible to sustain the gains of the beneseed farming to ensure that his dreams of exporting beneseed from Bekwarra comes true.
