The Director-General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Dr Nteranya Sanginga has called on governments to make use of the potential in agriculture to create wealth and jobs.
The DG made the call in an address delivered to stakeholders at the Oyo State Economic Summit, stressing that there were opportunities for the youth to start small businesses in seed production, input supply, weed control, and processing, among others.
Represented by Deputy Director-General for Partnerships & Capacity Development, Dr Kenton Dashiell, Dr Sanginga further explained that the youth could also be farmers and use modern methods that reduce the labour required, raise yields, and increase income.
Citing the example of the IITA Youth Agripreneurs model, Dr Sanginga said that there was the need to change the mindset of the youth.
He explained that the Youth Agripreneurs project – the first of its kind engages young people from various educational disciplines and through mentoring and training transforms them into agripreneurs, saying that making agriculture a business is at the core of the program.
“This project has so far been successful and we need to scale up,” he said.
