Stakeholders Task Govts On Agriculture

Stakeholders in Nasarawa state have called on the three tiers of government to scale up their investment on agriculture to achieve national food security.
The stakeholders specifically advised the governments to increase their funding of the sector in order to arrest youth restiveness and generate youth employment in the country.
They made the appeal in separate interviews with The Tide source in Keffi, Keffi local government area of the state.
Mr Isaac Peter, a farmer in Keffi, blamed the country’s dependence on oil on the negligence of agriculture by government at all levels.
He added that the development had resulted in increased rate of unemployment and crimes in the society.
“Government at all levels must give adequate attention to agriculture if the country must overcome its unemployment and other social vices affecting the country and for the country to live beyond oil.
“In 1960s and 1970s, agriculture was the main stay of Nigeria’s economy which had employed more than half of the population,’’ he said.
He recalled that the revenue base of the country and the standard of living of the people in the 60s and 70s improved compare to what obtained in the country now.
“But as a result of the discovery of oil, agriculture has been neglected by government and this has posed a serious problem to our country.
“This development has resulted into high rate of unemployment, poverty and armed robbery, among other social vices.’’
He called on the people to go back to farm in order to reduce overdependence on oil as well as to boost the socio-economic development of the country.
Mr Jatau Attah, a civil servant, said that if the government must tackle youth unemployment in the country adequately, it must diversify the economy, a deviation from the current dependence on oil.
He also called on the federal, states and local governments to address youth restiveness through adequate funding of the agriculture sector to motivate youths to embrace farming as a life-long occupation.
Mrs Jacinta Luka, a trader of farm produce, also called on government at the three tiers to revive agriculture to effectively address the country’s economic woes.