The
Project Leader, Cassava Weed Management Project, International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Alfred Dixon, has advocated youth connection to a
source of improved technology and access to information of good agricultural
businesses, NaijaAgroNet reports.
“Youth
engagement in agric can be in the production aspect like crop production, tuber
production and cassava stem production. It can be in the post harvest aspect by
adding value to what is already produced or the consumption aspects which come
after harvesting, it involves handling and packaging, transportation,
distribution, retailing, marketing and warehousing,” he said.
Dixon
said this recently while delivering keynote at the Covenant Capital, a division
of Covenant Christian Centre on the agricultural sector which has the theme
“SME Opportunities in Nigeria’s Agribusiness Value Chain.”
The
event which took place at the church auditorium in Iganmu, Lagos witnessed
other experts who noted that Nigeria, Africa’s
largest economy is expected to double its current population by 2050 and that the
future of the country’s economy is in the hands its teeming youth population.
They
stressed that with the high rate of youth unemployment in the country, there is
need for government to harness the potential in the agricultural sector by
making it very attractive to the youths.
The
Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Multi-Trex Integrated Foods Plc Oladimeji
Owofemi said, “In the logistic
performance index Nigeria is ranked lower than South Africa which has a
population of just 45 or 50 billion people. Government needs to provide good
road infrastructure network to reduce production cost.”
While
the CEO, X- Ray Farms, Afioluwa Mogaji, in his speech harped on the need for
youths across the country to see the opportunities in the agricultural value
chain because the opportunities are enormous.“With the massive opportunities in
agriculture in the country, oil is supposed to be an alternative to
agriculture,” he said.
Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE with additional report from Business Day
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technologyPix: Alfred Dixon