Massive Investment Needed to Attract Youths to Farming – Aregbesola

• Massive Investment Needed to Attract Youths to Farming – Aregbesola

The Governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, on Wednesday said there was a need for massive investment in the agricultural sector to enable the sector to attract many young people to farming.

He said this during a strategic meeting with all accredited ambassadors and high commissioners in Nigeria.

The meeting, which was held in Abuja, was to fine-tune strategies for the International Agricultural Exhibition and Conference to be hosted by the Osun State Government in November this year.

Aregbesola said that the meeting became imperative, as the focus of the Federal Government was to diversify the country’s economy away from oil.

He said agriculture occupied a strategic position in the objectives of government to diversify the economy for inclusive growth and job creation.

To achieve this, he said there was a need to invest massively in modern agricultural technologies to increase the yield of farmers.

This, he said, could be done in key areas such as agricultural machinery, biotechnology, software and hardware aqua culture, dairy and poultry farming, organic agriculture, post-harvest treatment, irrigation and water technology, among others.

Aregbesola said if Nigeria’s agricultural potential was faithfully harnessed, the country would have no reason to depend on oil revenue for survival.

He said the government of Osun State recognised the importance of the agricultural sector, adding that this was why it agreed to host the conference.

He said, “This conference came up at a period when the Federal Government is diversifying the Nigerian economy by enhancing massive influx of agricultural investments into the country.”