THE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of XtraLarge Farms, Mr. Seyi Abimbola David’s, has bemoaned the media portrait of farming as a last means of survival, stating that many organisations have rubbished agriculture as a business.
Speaking to newsmen recently during a press briefing held at AgriTech City Resort owned by XtraLarge Farms, Mr. Seyi Abimbola David’s lamented that due to the negative painting of farming in most media platforms, nobody wants to be a farmer.
According to the XtraLarge CEO, “Recently, we hosted some students from a school based in an highbrow area in Lagos, and we asked the students how many wish to be rich and famous, the students all raised their hands up. However, when we asked them how many wish to be a farmer, none of them had their hands raised up. This is the reality of what is confronting farming in this country at the moment.
“I have been wondering why people shy away from agriculture. Agriculture is a very laudable business. Everybody wants to be a doctor, an engineer, teacher, but nobody wants to be a farmer. This is due to the way some section of the media portray this work of agriculture.
“At XtraLarge Farms, we are happy when we see what we have planted growing. We are even happier when we harvest what we have planted. XtraLarge Farms has been into agriculture for over 17 years now.
“Our products have always gone from one end of the world to the other for the past 17 years. We have families scattered all over the world who make order for our products. If you get to Canada for example, you will see Nigerian families eating Ofada rice as if they were in Nigeria.”
On government efforts to promote agriculture, the XtraLarge boss called for more private sector participation in agricultural business.
“Government, over the years, has tried its best. However, government cannot do it all alone. We need more individuals participating in agriculture business. We need more private sector participation in agricultural business.
“We all heard of Lake Rice, an initiative between Lagos State Government and Kebbi State Government. We all saw the successes of that initiative. We need more state governments to encourage their people to come into agricultural business because there is money in it.
“Our local rice is sweeter and better than the foreign rice. The local rice is not preserved and that’s why they are sweeter. The foreign rice is preserved and anytime rice is preserved, it’s dangerous to human health.
“Production of local rice has improved so much over the years. In the past, while growing up, we used to pick stones inside local rice. But as of today, local rice production has gone beyond that level. In Nigeria today, there are machines that de-stone the rice during its processing.
“The more we have more people getting involved in local rice production, the better it will get for us in this country,” the XtraLarge Boss told newsmen.
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