As part of efforts to address the inflationary costs of common food items and vegetables, the wife of Anambra State Governor, Mrs Nonye Soludo on Friday, launched an organic vegetable garden programme in all the twenty-one local government areas of the state.
The Anambra first lady, who is also the founder of the non-governmental movement, Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Initiative, also launched a weekly physical exercise activity across the local government areas of the state.
Both programmes were launched at the Idemili North Local Government Headquarters, Ogidi, where the pilot projects are expected to kick off immediately.
The Healthy Living Garden Programme is a community-based initiative where each local government will be supported by the governor’s wife, NGO, to start up their own gardens within the vicinities of the councils’ secretariat.
The gardens shall be manned by trained workers in the local government areas, with the supervision of the local government chairman’s wives.
Crops to be cultivated in the gardens include tomatoes, cucumber, carrot, cabbage, hot pepper, green pepper, pumpkin, sweet corn, beetroot, garden egg, saint leaves, curry, etc.
Speaking during the official launching of the programmes, the governor’s wife, Mrs Soludo, said the participating local government areas will have till the next three months to start up their farmers’ markets where every harvest would be sold at a rate cheaper than what is sold in the conventional markets.
She said that the farmers’ markets would be opened weekly across the twenty-one local government areas, pointing out that the intention is to boost food production, cut down the cost of common foods, promote agricultural education and support organic food consumption across Anambra homes.
For the weekly exercise, Mrs Soludo explained that apart from building a community of physical health enthusiasts, she wished to use the programme to promote relationships and build a network of healthy living champions across the state.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of Idemili North Local Government Area, Mr. Stanley Nwoka assured that he would support the programmes to succeed in the local council and commended the governor’s wife for using her NGO to champion positive change.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, who is also the state coordinator of Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo, said each goal of the programme is tailored to produce the kind of results that will benefit every age.
The governor’s wife later toured the farmland that had already been mapped out for the garden.
