The Federal Government has said that its new agribusiness scheme, the Buhari Young Farmers Network, would train over 77, 400 youths in various agribusinesses.
Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Prince Paul Ikonne, disclosed this yesterday at a press conference in Abuja.
Ikonne said that 100 farmers would be drawn from 774 local governments and equipped with improved seeds, fertilizers, machinery, training, and crop protection agents. This, he noted, would help to boost food production as well as provide jobs for the teeming Nigerian youths.
He said, “We intend to have 77,400 young farmers injected into Nigerian farming businesses across the nation in different farming activities ranging from crop farming to animal husbandry.
“These young farmers will be drawn from the 774 local governments with a pilot number of 100 per local government. For this initiative, we will partner state governors and other stakeholders for the provision or donation of land as this will create employment and food production will increase.”
The NALDA boss also said this development was in line with the mandate of the agency to make agriculture a business and a source of wealth creation for the country. He added that the initiative would help the country increase, among others, palm oil and soya beans production for export.
“We have assembled a team of professional and we will keep co-opting more committed, knowledgeable and dedicated people to work with”
SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA
