Agriculture must be made attractive to youths, says Obasanjo

Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president, says agricultural businesses must be “glamourised” to attract  youths.

Delivering a lecture at the University of Ibadan on Saturday, the former president said the time has come for the country to concentrate on agriculture due to the decline in oil prices.

The programme was organised by the school of business (UISB) in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan,

“Agriculture financing should be kept at single digit rate of interest, agri-business must be glamourised to make it attractive to youths,” he said.

“It is now time for the country to move into agriculture, as there is decline in oil prices, inadequate food supply, need to create employment, raw material for industrialisation, among others.

“There should be creation of agri-service centres within reasonable distance for the farmers, we should add value to our foods to maximise returns from our investment.

“Attention should not be given to professional courses alone in universities, adequate support must be given to agricultural research; we should adopt best practices from within and outside Nigeria.”

Obasanjo also suggested that there should be agri-business service centres with close proximity to farmers.

On his part, Abiola Ajimobi, governor of Oyo state, who was represented by Oyewole Oyewumi, the state commissioner for agriculture, said Oyo had created an agricultural initiative programme which would tackle unemployment, provide adequate food and encourage youths to embrace agriculture.