Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said one of the most potent means of curbing youth emigration, unemployment and insecurity is to get more young people to embrace agriculture.
On Tuesday, Obasanjo stated this at the 9th International Trade Exhibition & Conference on Agrofood, Plastics, Printing, and Packaging in Lagos.
He said, “Of course, if we can achieve this, it will improve our security. Part of our insecurity is men and women that are not properly engaged.
“If we can give them employment, there will be less of them getting involved in banditry, in kidnapping and in doing various other criminal activities that they get involved in,” he added.
The former president, who described himself as ‘a mad man for agriculture,’ said there was a need to promote agribusiness for food security, nutrition security, employment, wealth creation, poverty elimination and income generation, particularly, foreign exchange.
He noted that the drive toward food security in the country must encapsulate food availability, affordability and accessibility.
Obasanjo said, “A friend of mine said to me, you must be a madman. I asked him what he meant, and he said if I was not a madman I would not have gone into agriculture. So, I am a madman for agriculture. When it has to do with agriculture, you can be sure that when you call me, I will answer.
“Food security starts with availability. We must be able to produce enough. Then there is affordability. We must be able to get everybody who needs food to be able to get the food that they need. Then there is accessibility. We must get food to where it is required.
“Almost 40 per cent of our food goes to waste after cultivation. So, food security and nutrition security make agribusiness important.”
He lamented that Nigerian youths often prefer to explore opportunities in the entertainment industry, underscoring the need to make agriculture more glamorous.
The former president also called on policymakers at all levels to ensure policy consistency, allowing farmers to set short- and long-term targets without worrying about possible policy somersaults that may topple their plans.
Obasanjo said a key part of this involves making single-digit loans available to farmers, as no agribusiness can produce profitably with double-digit loans.
He said, “First is employment, with our teeming population and the problem we have with our youths going over the desert and risking their lives at the Mediterranean will stop. What can we do to give them enough employment at home?
“The area that is sure to employ our teeming youth population is agriculture. When you talk about agriculture, not many of them will want to come to the farm, they will rather go into the music that they do now.
“We have to make agriculture glamorous because these youths, they make money that way (through music), and then you are asking them to come to the farm. They won’t want to,” he said.
