1HE GUARDIAN, Wednesday. March 23, 20D
Govt advocates youths' partidpation in agric From Joke Akanmu, Abuja
MONG measures to guarantee sustainable food security in the country, the Federa l Government has called for involvement of youths in food production . The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agricu lture and Rural Development, Mrs. Fatima Bamidele made the call on Monday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 38th regular meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rura l Development. Bamidele, who stressed the need to sensilise youths to engage more in farming, said it was due to the aging of many Nigeria farmers, adding that it was important to explore practicable ways of making the youth
A
take interest in agriculture
as a way of life. According to her, "there
is need to un leash the potentia ls of you ng rural people by concerted ly deploying the great opportunities in agricult ure and agro a lli ed sectors to thei r ailvantage and making out of them productive a nd prosperous farmers". The meeting of National Council on Agriculture, which is the highest decision making in the sector, wou ld a lso amo ng others consider the need to take effective action on agricultural planning, data collection and ana lysis. monitoring and eva luation, periodic report ing and dissemination of agricu lt ural information to all relevant stakeholders. The permanent secretary stressed the need for correct, up-to-date information on loca l and global agricu ltural practices, and other factors that have bearing on improved agricultural production, processing, mar-
keting and other elements in t he value chai n. Other issues wh ich she said wo u ld come in the front bu rner of the meeting include increase private sector partners hip in all sub sectors of agriculture, participatory approaches to community-based projects, provision o f guara nteed minimum price, anima l d iseases a nd transboundary pest contro l amo ng others. She said the meeting, wh ich wou ld span for three days would provide opportunity to review the sector with a view to reposition It for improved job creation, enhanced national food security, meeti ng the Millennium Development Goals and accomplishi ng the targets set in the Vision 20:2020 document. The Head of Service, Professor Oladapo Afolabi in his remark called for more involvement of Public
Private Patners h ip in the sector to boost food production in the country, th ereby ensuring food security. In another development, the Permanent Secretary in the m inistry has sa id Nigeria is currently among the lowest consumer of fertiliser in the world with an average rate of about okg per hectare, which is abo ut 10 per cent of t he world average. Bamide le reiterated Nigeria's reso lve to achieve at least SOkg/ha level by 2015 for agricultura l sector to sustai n t he projected growth in the economy as ens hri ned in the Africa Summit Ferti liser Reso lution of 2006. She stated this in Abuja at a stakeholders' validation works hop on fertiliser regulatory and qua li ty control system orga n ised by the ministry in co llaboration with All iance for a Green Revolution in Africa {AGRAl.
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