30 agro-tourists from Nigeria to visit Songhai Farm in Benin Republic

The management of Hadur Travels and Tours on Thursday said that it would lead no fewer than 30 agro-tourists from the country on an agro-tour to the Republic of Benin from June 7 to June 11.

Oluifunke Taiwo, the Managing Director of the company, said in Lagos that the tourists would be taught sustainable agricultural practices during the visit.

Taiwo said that tour was aimed at inspiring prospective farmers and to expose practising farmers to sustainable agricultural practices.

“If replicated in Nigeria, lessons learn from the tour can boost food security and job creation back home.

“We want to inspire our farmers to form the habit of cultivating big and sustainable farms as against small ones.

“Running small-scale farming is no longer the in-thing now; the business of agriculture has grown beyond that.

“We are looking at people building sustainable farms, and these must not necessarily have to be the government.

“But individual farmers are now building big farms, providing employment and helping to grow the wealth of the nation.

“So, we say that when our clients join our tours, they get inspired and build networks and key-in to this vision.

“It’s not just about visiting farms; they will be involved in networking, building relationships and learning more from other farmers they will meet in the farm,’’ she said.

Taiwo described Songhai Farm as a suitable destination for agro-tourists, saying “they have a successful waste-to-wealth project’’.

According to her, the management of the farm also preaches integrated farming.

“We spend a lot of money clearing water hyacinth annually in Nigeria , but in Songhai Farm, water hyacinth is used for purification, it is used for biogas.

“The dung from poultry is used for biogas over there while back in the country , we spend so much money to get rid of it from our poultries .

“They also earn money from tourism as from the many people that visit the farm as tourists by providing them accommodation and transportation,’’ she added.

The tour operator said that prospective agro-tourists would experience a thrilling and engaging time while there .

“Apart from exposure to farm-management secrets, it would increase their revenue generation potential and expose them to how to can prevent unnecessary losses,’’ she said.

She said that the tour package would include : accommodation, meals, transportation, as well as lectures on crop production, fishery, poultry, biogas, and mushroom.

(NAN)