Adesina advocates mechanised farming to lure youths into farming

Adesina, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina has said that the use of tractors on farms would attract youths to farming.

Speaking in Abuja recently, Dr. Adesina said creating market for contract tractor service providers would lead to mechanising the sector which will in turn provide jobs for many industrious youths.

"To get the youth into agriculture, we must rapidly mechanise our agriculture," Adesina noted emphasising the need to come up with a comprehensive system that would facilitates a strong relationship between financial institutions, tractors manufacturers and vendors, and other relevant parties towards making it affordable to own or lease tractors.

Adesina also confirmed that Nigeria doesn’t have up to 20, 000 functioning tractors in the country and this make Nigeria one of the countries that have the lowest number of tractors in the world.

He further added that the federal government has commenced the design of a new initiative that would give a new generation of young commercial farmers to help transform the agricultural sector and feed Nigeria today and in the future.

“To feed our rising population well into the future, we will need young commercial farmers," he said that the farming population is ageing rapidly, making it to difficult to meet the increasing challenges associated with markets and technology.

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