AFOS-NIG INGO, a German NGO, has met with institutions and chambers of commerce responsible for the German Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Nigeria on how to boost agriculture sector.

AFOS Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer and Country Representative, Mr Oladipupo Akoni, said this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Akomi said that the institutions involved were those providing technical supports to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and agribusiness owners in Nigeria

He said that the meetings were to enhance the technical and operational capacities of farmers and agribusiness owners in the country.

“The meetings with the German Institutes, Chambers of Commerce and other agencies were held as part of the programmes of the 9-day AFOS-led Nigeria agribusiness stakeholders’ visit to Germany.

“Members of the delegation, comprising 17 representatives were drawn from agro-allied companies, Chambers of Commerce and Industry and relevant federal government’s ministries and parastatals.

“They were excited to learn from the technical trainings by the German institutions and chamber which, they considered, would enhance their skills and productive capacity,” he said.

According to him, the delegation’s visited the Bundesinstitut fur Berufsbildung -BIBB (Federal Institute for Vocational Training), which addresses the issues of development of labour and training market in Germany.

“The team was excited to learn about the German VET system, its structure and historic foundation, as well as the key success factors of the institute,” he said.

He explained that the BIBB pilots projects in TVET to improve the quality of TVET programmes, and increase participation in TVET, data collation on VET Statistics, training regulation etc because they have all the data and information on TVET.

He also spoke on the experiences of the Nigerian delegation during the visit to Industrie- und Handelskammer -IHK (The German Chamber of Commerce) where they learned about the roles and efficacy of chambers in Germany.

He also spoke on the economic roles of the 78 Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Germany, usually referred to as Competent Body, including their roles in the implementation of VET at the district level through trainings.

Akoni said that facilitating the Nigerian delegation’s visit to Germany was part of the Foundation’s aims to improve the efficiency of the local agricultural value chain, increase food production, and create a skilled workforce within Nigeria.

“Our Agriculture project has three core pillars:

“Capacity building for smallholder farmers, for the agricultural industries/companies and for banks that lend to/finance agriculture.

“With the agriculture industry partners, our focus is predominately more on the poultry value chain and the partners are all represented on this exposure trip.

“Our agricultural interventions consist of management training and vocational training.

“The focus now is more on dual vocational training because we are trying to help establish an innovative strategic framework to develop a skilled Agric industry workforce”, he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria