By Ifeoma Ezenyilimba
Instead of taskiing his parishioners with levies, the initiator of Philoco Method of Yam Production and the Parish Priest of Holy Family Catholic Parish, Akpo, Aguata LGA, Anambra State, Rev Fr Philip Uche Okoye, had on the occasion of the 7th Edition of his Come See Yam Festival, donated over 70 huge yam tubers which each one weighed over 100kg, to the parish.
Speaking at the well-attended event held at Holy Family Catholic Church, Akpo, last Sunday, August 18, 2024, Fr Okoye, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia, said he donated the first sets of the yam tubers he harvested from his farms this August, for the completion of the Holy Family Parish Secretariat building project.
The huge yam tubers were auctioned at the event, and the money realised from the auction sales would be used for the completion of the one-storey building Parish Secretariat which has already been roofed.
It will be recalled that the secretariat project was started last year August 2023, with money realised from bazaar auction sales of the 6th Edition of Fr Okoye’s New Yam Exhibition. The Catholic priest, had also at the event, donated some huge yam tubers for the parish secretariat building.
While explaining the styles of his Philoco Method of Yam Production, which he had used and produced huge harvests, Fr Okoye, maintained that yam cultivation would yield fruitful harvest in Igbo Land, inasmuch as the right method is applied, and at the right time.
Pointing out that Philoco Method of Yam Production,, was God’s Gift to the present generation, Diji, Fr Philip Okoye, who disclosed that the yam tubers at the exhibition were the few ones he could harvest with the help of people that assisted him, called on the government to assist by providing modern equipments that would help in easier harvesting of such huge yam tubers.
While noting that New Yan Festival was celebrated in thanksgiving to God for the blessing of fruitful harvest, Diji, insisted that new yam festival ought to be carried out with yam tubers harvested from the farm land of the town doing the celebration.
He flayed some Igbo towns, who ,he said, celebrated their new yam festivals with yam tubers harvested from other towns which included towns from the northern part of Nigeria, saying that such was against Igbo culture and tradition.
Goodness Media reports that Fr Phikip Okoye, who had earlier took up yam farming as a hobby, as well as to feed the needy and the aged, had within the 7 years and still counting, nurtured many individuals, especially, the youths in the best process of yam production at Obeledu in Anaocha LGA, at Nanka in Orumba North LGA and currently at Akpo, Aguata LGA, all of Anambra State.
Earlier when he led in the concelebrated Holy Mass to mark the event, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia (CADEK), His Eminence Peter Ebere Cardinal Okpaleke, in his remarks, thanked God for the gift of Fr Philip Uche Okoye to the Church and humanity..
Cardinal Okpaleke, who was represented by the Chancellor of CADEK, Very Rev Fr Dr Lawrence Nchekwube Nwankwo, commended Fr Okoye for what he described as his many exploits in agriculture, especially, in yam farming.
He urged the youths to learn from the priest, and engage in farming, so as to produce food crops to feed themselves and others, especially as Nigerians were currently being affected by hunger in the country.
The many people that graced the event, which had Nze Henry Dim as the chairman of the occasion, feasted on the various delicacies made with the new yam tubers which were all harvested from the land of Umueze Village, Akpo, the community where Holy Family Parish, Akpo is located..
