Vanguard
5 December 2008
Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State has identified low participation of youths in farming as a major constraint to the development of agriculture in the country.
The governor, who said this today in Enugu at the opening of a 3_day Eastern Nigeria International Agriculture Conference, expressed concern that farming communities in the South East were populated by the aged.
"Our farming communities are now populated by ageing men and women who are unable to till the land.
"In spite of its enormous potential in agriculture, the eastern states are the major importers of food from other parts of the federation and abroad," he said.
The governor, who was represented by Dr Paul Nwandukwe, identified poor infrastructure and the lack of social amenities in rural areas as some factors that made agriculture unattractive to the youths.
He listed difficulties in accessing land and production inputs, non-mechanisation of agriculture and difficulties in securing credit facilities as other factors militating agricultural development.
He said the state government was committed to tackling problems which kept the youth away from agriculture as part of its contributions toward checking food insecurity in the Eastern region.
The Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Garba Sharubutu, listed bad governance and inconsistent agricultural policies as some factors for poor agricultural production.
Sharubutu, who is also President, Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association, urged youths to move from music and entertainment, as well as the sale of telephone recharge cards to agriculture.
He also called on Nigerian businessmen to shift from the money market to agriculture.
Declaring the conference open earlier, Enugu State Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof. Hilary Edeoga, urged the people of the South-East to take agriculture more seriously.
Edoga said that Enugu State had demonstrated its commitment to agriculture by paying its counterpart funds to the World Bank, buying tractors for farmers and subsidising the cost of fertilisers for farmers,.
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