The organiser of the RealityLife Magazine Conference and Awards (RELCA) Mrs Oghenemairo Adegeye, on Thursday in Lagos called for more youth inclusion in agribusiness.
The call was made at the RELCA conference and awards ceremony held at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ikeja, to celebrate excellent contributors to the growth of Nigeria’s agric. sector
Mrs Adegeye, in her welcome address called for increased participation of youth in the sector to boost food security.
She said that many had no business living in the cities but should have gone into farming.
“We have enormous green and arable land for crop cultivation but unfortunately our youth are in the cities doing menial jobs.
“If we have more people engaged in farming, we will have less destitute, and more people feeding themselves and the nation as well.
“We want people to go back to farming because everyone eats and that’s why we put this award together to celebrate farming,’’ Adegeye said.
She said that if musicians and actors were celebrated, farmers should also be celebrated.
“ Farmers do ensure we have food to eat. Without farmers we cannot live,” she said.
The minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Dr Mohammed Abubakar, represented by Mrs Olayinka Akeredolu, in his keynote address urged more investment in agribusiness to meet growing population and demands
“I will like to commend the noble efforts of the organisers in putting the conference and award together in order to chart way forward on agribusiness investment and technology.
“The conference is both timely and fundamental but the agricultural potential of Nigeria is barely being trapped which explains the inability of the country to meet the ever increasing demand for agricultural produce.”
