Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Msyouths Ruth Abisola Olusanya, has called on the federal, state, and local governments in the country to change their approach to the agriculture sector, urging them to make the sector more attractive so that many youths will develop an interest in the sector to enhance food security in Nigeria.
The commissioner made the call at the weekend while speaking as a guest speaker at a programme themed “Food Security in Nigeria: Challenges and Remedies,” organised by United Action for Change (UAC), a group convened by Dr Muiz Banire (SAN).
Olusanya lamented what she described as discouraging the perception around agriculture and food production in the country, saying that the sector had been relegated to the background and that many people were not attracted to it.
The commissioner posited that it would be difficult to improve the sector unless Nigerians changed their mindset about it, even as she sadly noted the absence of any role model that would attract people into the sector.
“There is a need for mindset change; people are not attracted to agriculture, and there is no role model in the agricultural sector that will attract people into the sector.
“Our leaders should know that it is a sector that cannot be relegated; it is not less important than other sectors,” she said.
Speaking further, Olusanya cited the example of Ghana, where food production was on the increase, noting that farmers were well celebrated over there, even as she urged the need for Nigeria to institute a day to celebrate farmers in the country and make role models among them.
The commissioner, however, said that the Lagos State government was aware of most of the challenges confronting the agricultural sector and that steps were being taken to address them.
This was just as she disclosed that the state government was also working at turning one of the Agric institutes in the state into a research institute for Agric, saying that such would come into being by 2027.
Olusanya, who further disclosed the commitment on the part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to change the narrative in the agriculture sector to a better one, being the outcome of the Agric Commissioners meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, added that the Lagos State government was aggressively pursuing a programme that would encourage the youths to embrace agriculture.
According to her, part of the state government’s plan was to encourage those studying agriculture to embrace working in their area of study.
Speaking earlier, an agriculturist, Dr Olajide Bashorun, described the enormous challenges facing farmers in Nigeria, saying that such was affecting them not to give their optimum best.
Bashorun said part of the challenges had to do with issues around security, which scared the farmers from visiting their farms at the time, a lack of access to roads to transport their farm produce, and no access to loan facilities, among others.
“Something should be done by the government to mitigate the problems facing farmers in Nigeria; there is a need for climate-smart agriculture.
“Sourcing credit finance for farmers is very important. There is a need to package agriculture finance for farmers,” he said.
Professor Gbolagade Ayoola, who joined the programme through Zoom, attributed failure to implement government policy as the reason the agriculture sector was not advancing in the country.
He, therefore, advocated for legislation that would criminalise failure to implement government policy, adding: “There is the need to sensitise the backbone of legislation against policy implementation.”
“There is a need for a composite solution that will address policy failure. Why policy failure is persistence is because there is no consequence,” Prof. Ayoola said.
Also speaking, Mrs Felicia Okotie equally called for a changed mindset on the part of Nigerians about agriculture, saying that people needed not to continue to see engaging in the sector as punishment.
“Interaction is needed to change the mindset of people about agriculture, which many people see as punishment,” she said.
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