A University Lecturer, Prof. Simon Ugwu, has urged the Federal Government to establish farm settlements across all the local council areas of the country to boost food production.
Ugwu, a senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, told The Tide source recently, in Nsukka that establishing farms would facilitate food security and create employment.
“It is unfortunate that some vast arable acres of land and lying waste when there is acute food shortage.
“The high cost of food items in the market is an indication that quantity of food production is insufficient for the country’s population.
The don further called on the government to machanise agriculture so as to make it attractive to the youth, who see it as a dirty job meant only for old people in the rural areas.
“Government  should mechanise agriculture by buying tractors, diggers and other modern implements and  equipment used in industrialized nations for massive agricultural development.
According to Ugwu, graduates of agriculture should be employed by the government on graduation to teach rural farmers on modern ways of farming. He said the government should ensure that farmers in the country are given soft loans, subsidized farm inputs such as fertilizers and improved seedlings amongst others to help them achieve bumper harvest.