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.
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology