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Agriculture, job creation source –Expert

Director, Institute for Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSERAR), Prof. Akin Omotayo, has said that commercial agriculture if well developed and implemented was capable of curtailing unemployment pervading the country.

The expert disclosed during a programme in the university that the sector had the capacity to create four million jobs through the agricultural value chains.

Omotayo, who spoke on “How to Resolve the Nigerian Economy through Agriculture”, pointed out that agriculture remained the only viable option that could solve the economic dilemma that the country finds itself in, because over-reliance on oil had failed the nation.

While advising governments at all levels to focus on agriculture, the IFSERAR director moted that young people should be trained and empowered to earn income in agriculture like their counterparts in other fields, saying this would make them stay on the farm, more so as the few existing farmers were becoming old.

He called for a systematic approach towards achieving this, which would ultimately result into stakeholders making more money and the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increases.

The agriculture expert advised ministries and departments and agencies, MDAs, at both the federal, state and local government levels to tap the opportunities in the sector fully, assuring that FUNAAB is always ready to assist them in any area of agricultural development towards ensuring food security.

On the collaboration between the university and the body, Omotayo assured them of IFSERAR support in increasing food productivity so as to end hunger in the country.

He said a lot of progress had been made since the collaboration started about a year ago. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, appreciated the contributions of WAAPP-Nigeria through IFSERAR, in strengthening the university’s extension village farmers.

He pointed out that the FUNAAB recently bought a Toyota Hilux van to support the programme, adding that a lot of things needed to be done in providing food security.

The university don stressed the need to embark on sensitisation and enlightenment activities that would enable the youth take up farming as a means of livelihood so as to create more employment opportunities


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