The Edo State Office of Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises in the Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) project has flagged off training for beneficiaries on international best practices for packaging and branding of products.
The training gears towards the standardisation of products manufactured by the beneficiaries to compete favourably with manufacturers of goods in other countries in the international markets.
Speaking at the flag-off of the training for Edo South Senatorial District, John Omoruyi, the State Coordinator of LIFE-ND, said 655 beneficiaries are expected to benefit from the human capacity development across the State.
Omoruyi, represented by Grace Iredia, the State Agribusiness Promotion Officer, LIFE- END Project, said 60 beneficiaries are to be trained across the three senatorial districts in the first phase
He said 20 incubatees would be trained in each of the three Senatorial Districts.
Omoruyi, who said the theme of the training is,”Edo State LIFE-ND project on-Sight Demonstration for Incubatees on Measurements Standard and Product Standardisation”, added that the beneficiaries are being trained on cassava, fish and poultry value-chains.
He also added that the capacity building which started in 2025 is expected to enable beneficiaries as manufacturers of made Edo products to be able to export their products to the global world through proper production, packages and branding.
“This programme is aimed at supporting and capacitating our beneficiaries in business.People LIFE-ND have trained from 2021 to 2025. They have been in business but we need them to upscale their business from the stage they are now to meet export targets, to be able to meet standards and certifications.
“So we invited NAFDAC and some officials of SON to come help us in capacitating them, giving them the guidelines, how to certify their products, meeting standards and packaging so that they will leave this local market and be able to meet up with external markets and export markets.
“This will help to increase their income as well as standard of living, which the project is aimed at. We are expected to train 60 beneficiaries across the three senatorial districts, at 20 each per senatorial district. We are doing that of Edo South.
“We are training beneficiaries in Edo South on cassava,fish as well as poultry value chains. For Edo Central, we are training them on cassava and poultry value chains while in Edo North, we are going to train them on cassava, poultry and rice value chains.
“In terms of upscaling and meeting up to standards, this is the first state that is carrying out this particular activity. Edo State is the first state that is implementing this across the 6 supported states. We believe that others will follow suit”, he said.
He, however, disclosed that in the first phase a total of 4,337 persons benefited from the programme, adding that in this additional financial phase, 665 people had already benefited.
He explained that with the knowledge acquired from the training, the beneficiaries should be able to add value to their various products, so that they can meet their export target and export level instead of just at the local market alone.
“They should be able to now package their dairy, for instance, to meet export targets.They should be able to package their rice, package their frozen birds, even process their fish to meet export targets.
“We want them to go forward, the next action is for them to upscale their businesses”, he added.
The officials from NAFDAC, Iyare Odion spoke on the topic of sensitisation on NAFDAC Registration Processes in Ensuring Regulatory Compliance and Promoting Public Health while Eval John Fidelis, from the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) spoke on Product Standardisation, Regulatory Requirements and Certification for Manufacturers and Distributors in Rice, Cassava, Fish and Poultry value-chains.
