10th November, 2020
By Okeoghene Akubuike
Alhaji Sabo Nanono, the Minister, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has called for a greater involvement of the youth and women in agriculture.
Nanono made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the “Debriefing of Outcomes of Socio-economic Surveys in Nigeria’’ led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and its partners.
He said that there was a need to address the issue of the micro level value chain being practised in Nigeria by aiming for a higher one which would help engage more youths and women in agriculture.
“I hope this meeting will also address the link between agriculture and industrialisation and look at the value chain by looking at a higher level of value chain.
“We have to start thinking along that line and see how we can remove a large number of youths from our streets.
The minister said Nigeria needed to look at crops such as soya bean and sesame seed which, according to him, are crops with good potential for export.
He also said the crops had the potential to create jobs for the youth.
Nanono called on women to wake up and come out of their closets, be aggressive and
proactive in participating in farming business.
He urged women and the youth to be involved in agriculture to move the nation forward.
The minister noted that though sorghum was becoming an industrial problem the seeds planted in Nigeria were not standardised.
He advised that the issue should be addressed through education and massive orientation programmes to enable the people to understand the importance of standardising sorghum.
NAN