Agric: Availability of quality seeds can create 40m jobs – Dogara

By Joshua Egbodo
Abuja

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has backed development, production and distribution of quality seeds to farmers in the country in order to boost agricultural production.
According to him, doing so can create over 40 million jobs for the unemployed.

He stated this when he visited Premier Seeds Nigeria Limited in Zaria, Kaduna state, expressing the belief that with coordinated support from the executive and the legislature “for companies that produce and distribute hybrid seeds to farmers, Nigeria will become food sufficient, and have standard of living of its citizens improved.”

“If the revolution in agriculture is going to be anything, it must start with the production and distribution of quality seeds. Gone are the days of our parents when they used to plant grains as seed, apparently we didn’t know that for you to have bumper harvest, it is not every grain that will qualify as the seed that the farmer will plant.
“Agriculture has the potential of being the highest employer of labour in this country.

If we have small farms springing up across the nation employing from 20 to 25 people, you can imagine if we could have 1 million of those ventures, that is between 40 to 70 million jobs that save us a lot of problems in this country and help to deal with many vices, insecurity, violence and the likes,” he was quoted to have said in a news release by his spokesman, Mr. Turaki Hassan, yesterday.
Earlier, managing director of the company, Prof. Abraham Oyediji Ogungbile, informed the Speaker that they distribute fertiliser and seeds to about 2,000 farmers who are their out-growers to produce certified seed for them.

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