The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi
Adesina yesterday commended Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi for
involving youths in commercial agriculture, saying the gesture would
drastically reduce the growing rate of unemployment in the country.
Adesina, who spoke while flagging off the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD) programme and 2012 farming season in Orin Ekiti, Ido-Osi Local Government Area of the state. The minister lamented that about four million Nigerian youths enter the labour market every year without gainful employment.
“While the economy is growing at 7.8 per cent per year, it is not creating enough jobs. There is no other sector that can create jobs faster than the agricultural sector. To unlock the potential of agriculture to create jobs, we must engage the energy, dynamism and entrepreneurship of the youth,” he said.
He said under the agricultural transformation agenda, the government plans to add an additional 20 million metric tonnes of food to the domestic food supply and also create 3.5 million jobs through agriculture by 2015.
He said there is a need to modernize agriculture as subsistence agriculture can no longer feed a nation. “The volume of fertilizer targeted for the season is 3000 MT of Urea and 3000 MT of NPK, valued at N690million. The Federal Government and Ekiti State governments will contribute N165million each in terms of growth enhancement support for farmers,” he said.
Adesina, who spoke while flagging off the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD) programme and 2012 farming season in Orin Ekiti, Ido-Osi Local Government Area of the state. The minister lamented that about four million Nigerian youths enter the labour market every year without gainful employment.
“While the economy is growing at 7.8 per cent per year, it is not creating enough jobs. There is no other sector that can create jobs faster than the agricultural sector. To unlock the potential of agriculture to create jobs, we must engage the energy, dynamism and entrepreneurship of the youth,” he said.
He said under the agricultural transformation agenda, the government plans to add an additional 20 million metric tonnes of food to the domestic food supply and also create 3.5 million jobs through agriculture by 2015.
He said there is a need to modernize agriculture as subsistence agriculture can no longer feed a nation. “The volume of fertilizer targeted for the season is 3000 MT of Urea and 3000 MT of NPK, valued at N690million. The Federal Government and Ekiti State governments will contribute N165million each in terms of growth enhancement support for farmers,” he said.
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