Buoyed by the need to rekindle the interest of youths in agribusiness, stakeholders in the Nigerian agricultural sector have teamed up to brainstorm on ways to sustain agricultural development in secondary schools.
At a two day meeting which recently held in Abuja, representatives from the federal and states ministry of agriculture including members of the Farmers Association gathered to discuss the need to make the agric sector appealing to youths.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Schools Agriculture Programme, Dr. Baraka Sani noted that the meeting was aimed at initiating ideas on the final implementation of the agricultural programmes in schools. She said it was necessary to give the youth proper orientation about agriculture.
Baraka Sani - Agronigeria
In her words, “this is a real business set up because we want to change the perception of the students about agriculture, to see the good side of it and to see that indeed you can make money practicing as a farmer and as an agribusiness person’’.
Dr. Baraka revealed that about 850 student agriculture clubs are expected to be established with 22, 000 beneficiaries of the clubs to be equipped with vital skills for life.
According to her, “the President wants to make sure that this time around Nigeria is not left behind in the scheme of the agriculture club which promotes entrepreneurship globally”.
While rounding up the meeting, Dr. Baraka asserted that the students will be allowed to feature in horticulture, aquaculture, poultry and apiculture for honey production among others as an avenue to create decent jobs for youth and reduce poverty.