Farmer Urges FG To Invest In Agriculture

Dr Arinzechukwu Gabriel, a farmer, has urged the Federal government to invest in agriculture to help create jobs and grow the economy.

Gabriel said in an Interview with the  in Abuja on Saturday that most countries of the world developed their economies through agriculture

In “a country like America, agriculture is one of the biggest industries. Government should channel money properly into agriculture to help create jobs for the youth.

“If government should build factories for the processing of most of the food we produce in this country, youths will be attracted to agriculture and jobs will be created.

“The government should go beyond sharing of fertilisers and investing in few cooperative groups to say that they are injecting money into the industry,” he said.

Gabriel, who is a medical practitioner, said Nigeria must stop importing 80 per cent of the rice consumed in the country and develop its own varieties.

He said there was need to build industries that could process rice to reduce the importation of the product into the country.

“If we have such factories established in the country, we can refine some of our food and produce things that can be exported to generate money for the country.

“We import chips, nuts and many other foods like that so we have abundant food to use and for exports.

“Government should partner with the private sector to drive some of these things to help develop this country, Nigeria,” he said.