FG Advocates Youth-Friendly Agric Policies

Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike (left), inspecting the School Farm/Agriculture Business Initiative Pilot Scheme after commissioning at Government Girls Secondary School, Rumuokwuta, Port Harcourt, recently.. Photo: Egberi A. Sampson

The Minister of Agri
culture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has reiterated the need to invest heavily in agriculture in order to attract youths to the sector.
In a release by Agro Nigeria that was made available to The Tide recently, the Minister lamented the low participation of rural  farmers who are the mainstay in the country’s quest to feed its citizens.
The event was at a National workshop on a new agricultural policy for Nigeria organized by The National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN) in Abuja recently.
According to him, there are those who estimate that by 2025, the country’s population would stand at 450 million, making Nigeria the third most populous nation on the planet. He expressed worry that 75 per cent of this huge population would be living in cities while 25 per cent only would live in the rural areas.
“Can the 25 per cent feed themselves and the city dwellers” he asked.
However, he said if Nigeria could hasten to lift agriculture to the level of India, China and Thailand, including the nations of the western world then Nigeria can surmount her challenges. “To get to that level, we need to make huge investments in land preparation, machinery, seed improvement, farmer education and encouragement or enticement of younger people into the agricultural terrain,” he said.
In his welcome address, the chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, said that agriculture must be “born again” in order to end our national shame.
“A nation that depends on other nations for its feeding has no right to call itself independent.
He disclosed that Nigeria has close to 80 per cent of arable land, yet it is a massive net importer of food and other agricultural produce. Senator Adamu attributed the anomaly to the nation’s peasant farmers still tilling the earth they inherited from their forefathers with obsolete farming implements.
He, however, said that there was need to create a forum to encourage constant dialogue between farmers and the ministry in formulating agricultural rebirth policies.
The Senate Agric Committee Chairman also suggested a clear policy on procurement and sale of fertilizers at the right time during the farming season.