Senate demands quick disengage from old agric practices

Sen. Saliu Mustapha, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture production services and rural development, has called for immediate change from old agricultural practices to the use of modern technologies to increase youth participation in the sector.

Sen. Mustapha said this at last week's dialogue meeting tagged “National Young People’s Dialogue on Inclusive Food Systems" held in Abuja with the support of GIZ,  Sustainable Agricultural Systems and Policies (AgSys).

The upper chamber senator called for a radical departure from outdated agricultural practices, and suggested the need for empowering young people with the tools, training, and platforms that would lead to more proactive phase of food system innovation sustainability.

“We must make space for youth-led innovation in agriculture. With fresh ideas and technological know-how as young Nigerians are prepared to take charge and redeem our food systems"

He however noted challenges like a long- aging farming population, restricted access to technology, and underutilized farmland to food insecurity, saying that all these require  urgent intervention from both the government and donor organizations to drive inclusive and sustainable solutions to the sector.

Recall that a recent political economy analysis on youth employability in agriculture has identified key structural and policy constraints as limiting youths participation in the sector.

It is in light of this that Sen. Mustapha proposed the launch of the Nigerian Youth in AgriTech & Innovation Programme (NYATIP), targeted to aim at equipping young agripreneurs with the skills and support necessary to thrive in food productivity.

Meanwhile, the ActionAids, Nigeria food systems specialist, Azubike Nwokoye on the occasion has posited that the country would benefit about $50.4 approximately N60 trillion annually using fourteen million youths.

Nwokoye explained that under the African Continental Free Trade Areas ( AfCFTA), about $10b to 20b could be generated depending on the efficiency of the access to market saying $50.4 billion could also be injected through the use of 14 million youths.