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How to encourage youths participation in agric – Don

From Jimoh Ahmed, Ikare Akoko.

If Nigeria as a country must leverage on her comparative advantage in agriculture to create massive employment for the teeming jobless youths, there has to be a serious reorientation towards changing the belief that only poor and uneducated ones take to farming.
The Sub-Dean, Faculty of Education, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Dr Joseph Sunday Adegboro stated this in an exclusive interview with The Hope .
Dr Adegboro said the orientation of Nigeria is that only the poor and uneducated do venture into agriculture whereas in the advanced countries, majority of their farmers are the elite and educated ones and they are always respected as against what obtains in Nigeria.
He called for the establishment of Youths In Agriculture projects, Agric Villages Estates to encourage youths participation in agriculture.
Speaking further, he said such villages or farm estates must be provided with modern facilities and amenities such as training school, health center, police post, good internal roads, electricity and internet facilities to entice youths to the place.
The university lecturer who observed that the country over the years has not invested much in agriculture want the government to do a lot of reinvestment in this regard.
According to him, this can be done through making available mechanised farming equipments available to those interested in farming either at a subsidised rate or low rental fee to cut down the high cost of owning or hiring such equipments which is often beyond the reach of the people.
According to him, the cost of ridging or harrowing an hectare of land in Nigeria today is fearsome while the price of other farm inputs are at cut-throat prices but if these are subsidised many will be able to afford them.
Equally, Dr Adegboro stated that there must be the urgent need to educate youths in the country on agriculture.
According to him, agricultural courses in our tertiary institutions must be made free or be made to attract very low school fees as way of encouraging youths to go into studying them.
He also called for great financial support for agro allied factories that produce allied products. This he said will encourage companies that will make use of our agricultural outputs as raw materials.
Dr Adegboro who said it is a disgrace to the country as a producer of cocoa to be importing cocoa related beverages said when this is done, there will be massive job creation and it will also save us a greater deal of foreign exchange.
In the same vein, he want farmers to be encouraged to form themselves into cooperative societies while government should give out interest free loan to them.
Similarly the Sub-Dean suggested the creation of ready made market for excess of farm products to encourage farming business while rural feeder access roads should be constructed to open up farm settlements for easy access.

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