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Tag: agriculture

  • Ondo State Govt. to tackle unemployment through agriculture

    Ondo State Govt. to tackle unemployment through agriculture

    Ondo State Government said it had mapped out strategies to reduce the rate of unemployment among youths through agriculture.

    agriculture, the Chairman of the state Wealth Creation Agency (WECA), disclosed this on Wednesday in Akure.

    He spoke while signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) and Third National FADAMA Development Project.

    The WECA chairman, who signed on behalf of the state government, said that agriculture could provide massive employment opportunities for youths.

    Olafunmiloye said the collaboration of the agencies was to move the sector forward and boost food production in the state and the country at large.

    She said that the development would develop the agricultural sector and change mindset of youths towards agriculture by encouraging them to adopt modern system of farming.

    According to her, the MoU is expected to emphasise the development of poultry production and cassava cultivation in the state.

    The WECA chairman said that the move was in line with the policy of the current administration to partner reputable and committed individuals and organisations in promoting agriculture.

    Olafunmiloye said that the government had established four Agro Business Cities (ABC) across the state with modern facilities to serve as incubation and training centres for youths.

    Speaking on the value chain addition initiative of the government, she said the agency had established a number of agro allied industries for food processing.

    Among them are 1000 daily capacity chicken processing plant at Akure with modern facilities and cassava processing plant at Ore Agro Business City.

    She said that poultry production was critical to the economy and should be developed and harnessed to create job opportunities for youths.

    According to her, it can also generate revenue for the government and stop the millions of naira being spent on importation of poultry products from other countries.

    She, however, called for collaboration among all the stakeholders to achieve this.

    Mr Festus Oyekunle, the state Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria and Mrs Jumoke Bakare, the state FADAMA project leader, expressed delight at the prospect of partnering with state government on agriculture.

    They agreed that the development was with a view to sharpening the interest of youths in agriculture and make them to self employed as well as create wealth for themselves.

     

  • Fed Govt to reduce food importation, says Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the Federal Government is determined to significantly reduce the very high bill for importation of food products to Nigeria.

    He made the remark at a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mr. Lars Rasmussen, in Washington DC.

    A statement issued on Saturday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said that President Buhari also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to the rapid diversification of Nigeria’s economy.

    He said: “We developed a mono-product economy and lost opportunities to diversify in the past.

    “We have great potentials for agriculture and solid minerals. We are now determined to exploit them to the fullest. Addressing the past neglect of these two sectors will help to reduce unemployment and make us a more productive country.

    “We will welcome more investment in our agriculture and solid minerals sectors from countries with expertise in the two sectors. We abandoned them for petroleum. Now, we have to go back.

    “Our bill for the importation of food and dairy products is very high. We want to cut it as much as possible by developing our local potentials,” the President told Mr. Rasmussen.

    He assured the Danish Prime Minister that the Federal Government will continue to work in partnership with other countries to further improve maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.

    Buhari said that his administration was determined to stop the huge loss of revenue from crude oil theft and has received assurances of international support to curb illegal shipments of Nigeria’s crude oil.

    Stressing that his country is a major shipping nation, Mr. Rasmussen thanked President Buhari for Nigeria’s current efforts to enhance security in the Gulf of Guinea.

    He assured the President that Danes will be very interested in investing in the development of Nigeria’s agricultural sector if the right policies and conditions are put in place.

    “We are quite experienced in agriculture. It is an area in which we can cooperate. If you pave the way and remove the obstacles, we will like to come in,” the Prime Minister told President Buhari.

  • Governors to invest in mineral resources, agriculture

    In their bid to boost internally generated revenue to augment dwindling allocations from the Federation Account, NorthWest zone governors plan massive investment in exploration of their mineral resources and development of agriculture.

    The governors,’ under the ageis of North-West governors’ forum, made the declaration at the end of their meeting in Katsina.

    A communiqué issued said that the seven states in the zone would give priority to the exploration of their mineral resources and the development of agriculture.

    The communiqué, signed by Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari, the chairman of the forum, issued in Katsina, said the two sectors if properly harnessed, would solve the problem of unemployment, insecurity, as well cattle rustling in the zone.

    It urged Nigerians to support President Buhari’s fight against corruption and insecurity.

    The governors advised Nigerians to support the policies of the Federal Government aimed at revamping the economy.

    They pledged to mobilise stakeholders in the zone to ensure the development of the area.

    “For the zone to succeed in addressing most of its challenges and forge ahead in the wake of monumental challenges, the governors agreed to cooperate and unite.’’ the communique said.

    It added that the governors agreed to establish a secretariat in Katsina State to coordinate their activities.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was held to discuss myriads of problems facing the zone and proffer solutions.

  • Falling oil prices: We’ll develop agriculture, other sectors –  Buhari

    Falling oil prices: We’ll develop agriculture, other sectors –  Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday night said that his administration was fully committed to increasing the productivity of Nigeria’s agriculture and solid minerals sectors to save the nation from the harsh effects of lower crude oil prices.

    Speaking at a meeting with leading members of the Council of Saudi Arabia’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry, President Buhari said that with declining revenues from crude oil exports, Nigeria’s hopes of economic resurgence now lie in the rapid development of its immense agricultural and solid mineral resources.

    Inviting Saudi Arabian businessmen to invest in both sectors, the President said that his administration will welcome greater foreign investment in support of its efforts to rapidly diversify the Nigerian economy.

    Buhari, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said that Nigeria had regrettably depended too much on crude oil exports to the neglect of other resources and was now paying a harsh price for failing to diversify its economy early enough.

    He said: “With the downturn in the global prices of oil, we now have to prospect our solid minerals. We have to return to agriculture. Mining and agriculture are our hopes now.

    “We will welcome investments in these areas. We will appreciate an in-flow of more resources and expertise to help us achieve our objective of economic diversification,” the President said.

    The governors of Osun, Ogun, Katsina, Borno, and Zamfara states, who were part of the President’s delegation, took turns to address the Saudi Arabian businessmen on investment possibilities in their states, assuring them of good returns.

    The Chairman of the Council of the Saudi Arabian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Dr Abdulrahman Al Zamil said that agriculture was a very important area of investment for its members, adding that they were already in Brazil, the United States of America and Sudan, “where we have huge farms.”

    Declaring that they were willing to invest in Nigeria Dr. Abdulrahman Al Zamil said that the Saudis were the leading investors in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

  • ISAC holds summit on mining and agriculture in London

    The International Strategic Alliance Committee (ISAC) has said it has concluded plans to host a Nigerian Mining and Agriculture summit in London in April.

    The event is scheduled to hold on the 4th and 5th of April at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in Westminster, London.

    Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Gilbert Agbeyegbe, who is in charge of ISAC Operations in Nigeria said “the summit is intended to bring together government officials from Nigeria and top Nigerian businessmen and women.”

    Expected at the event, he added, will be those who are interested in farming and mining in Nigeria.

    The summit, he said, will enable stakeholders to deliberate on issues and opportunities in the mining and agricultural sectors in Nigeria and make available on the spot opportunity to sign partnership agreements with international investors.

    Also highlighting details of the conference, Director of ISAC Events, Mr Olawale Adenugba noted that “ISAC is desirous of supporting the current administration in its bid to diversify the economy and develop the mining and agricultural sector.”

    Adenugba decried the dwindling revenue of the nation, urging those interested in farming and mining to seize this opportunity to attend the summit as an opportunity is here presented to develop these sectors.

  • Dollar scarcity creates pressure on Naira – Expert

    Dollar scarcity creates pressure on Naira – Expert

    Ifeanyi Duaka (Ph.D) is the Chief Finance Officer of Lekki Gardens. In a chat with our reporter, BLESSING OLISA he advised on the way forward for the economy.

    At the moment the Naira has been terribly devalued. What do you think is the cause?

    Devaluation of naira is a function of demand and supply. Nigeria is an importing nation that needs dollar reserves to support her import needs. Statistics has it that Nigeria trade imports average of $43billion dollars. Dollars accruing to Nigeria is mainly from oil proceeds. So, as world oil price declines, our reserves keep depleting. CBN starts having challenges in meeting up with dollar needs for importation. The scarcity of dollars creates pressure on the naira as importers become desperate to get dollars to meet their import needs. This pressure creates gap between official exchange rate and that of the parallel market. The trend forcefully resulted in devaluation whether deliberately implemented by the government or market forces of demand and supply. Devaluation of currency has three key merits: (1) It will boost export (2) It will shrink trade deficit (3) It reduces sovereign burden. But because we are an import-driven economy, devaluation tends to be at our disadvantage, making it difficult to benefit from the advantages. Having said that, it is pertinent for Nigeria to focus more on ensuring that the economy becomes export-driven as against the present import-based. Currently our export commodities are facing price decline just as we lack necessary credit stimulus to increase exports. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

     What is your stand on the inconsistency in the CBN monetary policy and what effect do you think it has on the economy?

    The seemingly inconsistency in CBN policy is due to the drive to save naira from devaluation and preserve our foreign reserves. So, policy is being released in piece meal as reserves of CBN keeps nose-diving southward and widening the gap between the official exchange rate and the parallel market . I expect CBN to have taken a holistic approach in resolving our depleting reserves and currency management so as not to send wrong signals to the investors. The piece meal approach has created a “sit-and-watch” attitude in the investors. The piece meal policy approach has affected the economy negatively by increasing  unemployment, pressurising more companies to close down  due to non-availability of forex, continuous capital flight  as investors are not sure of CBN’s next policy direction, rise in inflation as costs of manufacturing and import continue to increase, drop in purchasing power of consumers as unemployment increases. Besides, there is increased default in bank loans as capacity to pay is in doubt; restriction of cash spending as consumers hold back due to uncertainty. Suffice it to state that economic challenges are not peculiar to Nigeria as the world is now a global village. So, there are always external factors apart from those internally created. To provide a holistic approach, I expect the CBN governor to expand the number of MPC to include past CBN governors and finance ministers with a view to creating a robust solution in solving our economic challenges. The expanded MPC should focus on driving policies that will support non oil exports in the short, medium and long term. A quick win was the effort made by the immediate past administration on National automobile policy; an agreement was signed by foreign automobile investors to assemble and manufacture cars in Nigeria including our local automobile manufacturing companies. CBN should take a critical look at credit guarantee scheme for SMEs, propose Timely Payment Bill for SMEs in the National Assembly, revisit the 10% profit of Banks which are statutorily meant for investment in the SMEs and explore possible direct intervention into manufacturing companies that will create jobs and exports.

    What do you think is the way out of Nigeria’s current economic crisis, because right now it seems the government doesn’t have the answers?

    No doubt, the desired changes expected by Nigerians cannot happen overnight but all the necessary change indices must be in place. We see a government that cannot multi-task in her approach in providing the proclaimed change. The approach of addressing corruption by this administration through the media trials of individuals who were alleged to have stolen public funds and pushing for subsequent court trial, may not yield the desired result expected by government. My thoughts is that government  should take a critical look at the entity called Nigeria with a view to determining key areas that will drive the economy and impact on the masses. Such as (1) Promote bills through national assembly to support key critical reforms (2) Develop budget that will be a clear departure from what it used to be where recurrent expenditure takes (75-90)% and capital project takes (10-25)%. The sweeping reverse is that capital project should take not less than 70% while recurrent takes 30% of the total budget. The implication of this is that there will be a serious downsizing in the public sector but here is the catch: (a) come up with special payout package for those that are willing to input entrepreneurship (b) for those that are close to retirement age, come up with special investment package that will guarantee monthly payment aside their regular pension for one year (c) come up with tax incentive package for any private sector that will absorb the staff of the affected public sector.  Then, the funding of capital project that are self-revenue generation should be funded by debt while the shortfall and recurring expenditure shall be funded with revenue generated from non oil revenue. Government should also focus on export-oriented sectors while energy subsidy, despite its effect on the overall economy, is necessary in the medium term in order to increase competitive capabilities of export-oriented sector. It is equally pertinent for the government to ensure efficient regulation and removal of trade barriers. Moreover, government should create policies that will attract foreign direct investment while efforts to improve on the ease of doing business in Nigeria should be strengthened. However, this does not stop the government from carrying out its anti-corruption campaign within the ambit of the rule of law.

    Do you think the 2016 budget is realistic and capable of addressing some of the growing economic issues?

    If the truth be told, there is no difference between the 2015 budget and 2016 budget. So, for me, the magic lies in the implementation and reliability of the funding strategy. The revenue to be generated to fund 2016 budget is about N3.78trillion while that of 2015 is N3.602 trillion. Note that non-oil revenue for 2015 budget is N1.684 trillion while that of 2016 is N1.45trillion. Expected source of funds from non-oil revenue is not reliable as it is based on recovery and tightening of loose ends in the MDAs There is no numerical statistics backing it up and no past reference. With the further dwindling of oil price which is below bench mark of $38, the funding gap has increased.

    How do you think the Nigerian government can finance the infrastructure currently available, so that even the private sector and small businesses can benefit from them?

    There are some key infrastructural projects on which the last administration has opened up discussion with some financial institutions and China. The projects areas also included clean energy technology worth $100m, East-west Road at the cost of $800m, Mambila Hydro electric power amounted to $4.8bn and coastal rail project estimated at $12bn. All these projects were proposed to be funded through long term concessional borrowing. The targeted financiers were World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Chinese Exim bank. For internal borrowing, infrastructure funding can be raised from our pension funds but all projects must be able to pay for themselves. The same approach could still be adopted by the present administration for the new infrastructural facilities to be embarked upon although not to the detriment of the infrastructural projects started by the past administration.

     

    Proceeds from oil have drastically reduced. What other sources of revenue do you think are available, and how can Nigeria harness them in order to finance the economy.

    Like I said earlier, government should harness policies of the last administration on automobile industry and support the export sector through credit financing to the sector and policies that will encourage foreign direct investment and needed technology. Our agricultural products should be used as input for our own home-made products so that we can export finished products instead of raw materials which attract low pricing globally. Selling off government strategic assets with IOC to raise fund for infrastructural projects is also a good idea. Government should focus on creating an enabling environment for private sector to thrive.  We should think of gradually changing our NYSC scheme to become one year programme for corps members to work at mechanized farms owned by state and federal government across the 36 states of the federation including the FCT and also be posted to SMEs for support growth.

    What other opportunities abound for Small scale business since oil is on a downward spiral, and how do you think SMEs can thrive in this economy

    There is no gain saying that past governments in Nigeria have made conscious efforts to drive the economy through SMEs but their efforts did not yield any significant changes. The advanced economies have all leveraged on the strength of their Small and Medium-Scaled Enterprise (SME) sector. The success recorded by SMEs in countries like Brazil and India launched them among the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Meanwhile Indonesia and Bangladesh are identified among the Next Eleven (N-11) countries as a result of their vibrant microfinance banking systems. Although Nigeria was listed as one of the N-11, we still have serious challenges using microfinance to support SMEs’ growth. Statistics has it that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) contribute 46% to the Nigeria’s GDP.

    The 2010 survey carried out by the Bureau of Statistics across the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory reveals that Nigeria has 17.28 million MSMEs out of which 17.26million is micro enterprise, this generated 32.8million jobs. The figure continues to increase but with the challenge of early death of many of them. It is very possible to use SME sector as a driver to economic growth and employment generation. China has positioned its economy as one of the largest in the world using SMEs and it is the same story with America. China focuses on manufacturing industries while America focuses on service industries.

    Quickly let me identify challenges of SMEs in Nigeria despite various government efforts.

    • Access to fund by the operators
    • Multiple taxation
    • Weak infrastructure
    • Inconsistent government policies
    • Very weak export products
    • Age brackets of SMEs entrepreneur
    • Obsolete technologies
    • Absence of database
    • Perpetual delay in payment of SMEs by large corporate bodies

    I am aware we have national council for SMEs, SMEDAN, National MSME policy and various CBN efforts in putting up specialized funds, agricultural credit guarantee schemes and priority lending to mention but a few. All these strategies and efforts are not out of place, the key issue here is consistency in implementation as government changes hands. The missing link is positioning the SMEs sector as cash provider for government spending like crude oil and lack of holistic approach in solving the SMEs various challenges. I believe that as a first step to depart from our current solution approach, the government must pass the SME payment bill among others that will serve as building blocks in creating an SME-driven economy, which I otherwise refer to as profitable and working economy.

     

  • Transforming rural lives through agriculture

    Young agro entrepreneurs in the rural areas are smiling to their banks. They are changing the age-long perception that agriculture is not a profitable venture. Their story is that of overcoming poverty, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    For the  Chief Executive, Springboard Entrepreneurship Development Initiative, Lawrence Afere, based in Akure,  Ondo State, the rural areas are precious and deserve to be cherished. They are characterised by diverse landscapes and climate. This also means an advantage to organic agriculture.

    His farm projects create awareness to farmers of new possibilities in practices and techniques that support profitable organic farming.

    Besides this, Afere’s innovative drive and constant experimentation with various crops have resulted  to a rich harvest. He is a farmer who  trained as a business administrator at the Covenant University. He also trained as a social entrepreneur at the Northwestern University, Chicago, International Institute for Global Leadership, Ashville, United States  (online) and from Kanthari International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs in India.

    The mission of Springboard is to create an entrepreneurial and productive community of youths from various backgrounds, who work together to enhance their livelihood and community through sustainable agriculture.

    At the Springboard farms in Akure, they grow plantain, banana and maize. They also produce  chips from plantain. In future, he plans to grow cocoa and all kinds of vegetable.

    For him, successful farmers, irrespective of their locations, require skills to build enterprises. From his experience, learning financial, marketing and other business basics is as helpful as the investment in their projects.

    In addition, the work of farmers  is beyond their products – farmers need to defend the landscape, the soil fertility and the biodiversity.

    For this reason, he has established a training school for those interested in building agricultural businesses. In his training school, young people are exposed to diversified farming programmes.

    Besides this, he has an absentee farmers programme for those who don’t live in Ondo State. His team operates the farms on behalf of investors, saving them the pains of travelling long distances.

    Also, Chief Executive, Niji Group, Mr Kolawole Adeniyi, is setting up a rural farm estate in Oyo State.

    According to him, the project will consist of diversified activities, including facilities for individuals, groups and other visitors. Apart from creating jobs, he said his motive was to encourage farmers to become involved in local development.

    The project will bring an increased level of awareness among the farmers of the need for sustainable development and diversification. It will provide an experimenting zone for creating employment and self-employment opportunities.

    The Provost, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Ondo State, Dr Samson Odedina, said there was  the need to provide opportunities for young rural people to develop entrepreneurial skills in agriculture.

    He said the college’s programme  provides young people with the training and support they need to establish businesses. He highlighted the need to give young people opportunities to build their capacities, providing them with skills and technical information to enable them take the lead in agric development initiatives.

    A farmland realtor in Ogbomosho area of Oyo State, Debo Thomas, is looking for young people with serious interest in farming.

    Thomas believes the government cannot afford to continue to underutilise the young people as they are presently. For him, enough education, financing and guidance is necessary for those in the rural areas that want to start a farming project that can lead to greater opportunities in the future.

    Experts say emerging young agro entrepreneurs represent a huge potential resource to their communities. They say many rural communities are ageing because, in the absence of incentives to remain, young women and men leave rural areas to seek opportunities elsewhere.

    They argue that when young people begin to see that smallholder farms can be transformed into dynamic, innovative, modern businesses, they will be encouraged to choose agriculture as a career path. Their skills and talents will thus be harnessed in generating a vibrant rural economy that offers employment opportunities both in agriculture and off the farm.

  • Deji of Akure to support College of Agriculture

    Deji of Akure to support College of Agriculture

    The Deji of Akure,  Oba Kole Aladetoyinbo, has called for renewed interest in agriculture.

     He made the call while receiving the management team of the College of Agriculture, Akure, who visited him.

    He said this would enable the nation to harness numerous benefits derivable from agriculture.

    Oba Aladetoyinbo promised to support the college.

    He appreciated the college management for the visit. He praised the Provost for his foresight and commitment to the institution, lauding the giant strides he achieved in the College.

    He urged the management team not to rest on their oars in ensuring that they position the college and the state on the map.

    Oba Aladetoyinbo promised to support the programmes and projects in the college.

    The provost of the college, Dr Samson Odedina, congratulated Oba Aladetoyinbo on his elevation to the exalted position. He told the king of the  programmes and projects ongoing at the institution. They include: international partnerships/collaborations for agricultural value chain projects for students and communities, improved college-neighbouring communities relations, profitable agribusiness investments, provision of employment opportunities for students and indigenes, agricultural vocational trainings.

    Odedina solicited the support of Oba Aladetoyinbo and the Akure Kingdom for the college.

  • Farmers seek new credit policy for agriculture

    Lagos State Federated FADAMA Community Association president, Alhaji Abiodun Oyenekan, has urged the Federal Government to evolve a new credit policy that will contribute to agricultural restructuring and boost food production.

    Oyenekan asked that farmers access to finance be improved to enable them buy agricultural machinery to increase their productivity and incomes.

    According to him, many smallholder farmers do not have access to modern agricultural machinery that can help increase their productivity and improve both food security and incomes.

    This is because they can’t afford new tractors. Without access to credit, he said they often have no choice but to continue farming without the benefit of modern equipment. He noted, however, that credit for agriculture is still facing difficulties, such as high interest rates and strict loan approaches.

    Right now, he explained that loans given by banks are not single digits and tend to be too expensive for rural smallholders to take advantage of financing, and they can rarely meet the rigid collateral requirements or pay back the loan within the typical short-term lending periods.

    Oyenekan said credit  for agriculture still faces difficulties, such as high interest rates and strict loan approaches. According  to him, restructuring the credit policy will lead to banks developing loans for agriculture, which include production and processing of agricultural products and processing and consumption, production of seeds in crop, livestock, fisheries, forests and supplying of products and services and lending for trade development in rural areas.

    Besides, he said there should be support for partnership and application of high technology in agricultural production; increasing competitiveness to contribute to sustainable development of the agricultural sector and enhancing the living conditions of rural residents and contributing to implementation of the national target programme of new rural areas.

    He said there are funding windows provided for farmers by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the World Bank to boost government’s efforts to expand agriculture sector while providing food security and improved nutrition to the rural poor.

    For the agric sector to develop rapidly, he said the economy must support it’s demand for credit and expand business operation towards modernisation.

  • Strive Masiyiwa: If I started again I’d do agriculture, says telecoms tycoon

    Strive Masiyiwa: If I started again I’d do agriculture, says telecoms tycoon

    Zimbabwean tycoon, Strive Masiyiwa, made his money in the mobile telecoms business, but if he were to start all over again, he would bet on agriculture.

    Speaking at the opening of this year’s African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, Masiyiwa made a case for the opportunities in the agriculture industry.

    The Zimbabwean billionaire is chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an organisation set up in 2006 to support smallholder farmers with the goal of reducing poverty and hunger.

    Masiyiwa noted that Africa’s food market would be worth US$1tr in just 15 years, citing a 2013 report by the World Bank.

    According to a report launched at the forum, Africa currently spends more than $60b on food imports each year, thereby benefiting producers outside the continent.

    “Oh I wish I was starting again. I wouldn’t do telephones. I would go into agriculture,” he said.

    Masiyiwa founded Econet, a diversified telecommunications company with operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America and Asia. His other business interests include financial services, insurance, renewable energy, bottling for Coca-Cola and hospitality ventures – all of which have made him one of the most wealthy and respected business people in Africa.

    “Twenty years ago, the idea that people could have their own (mobile) phone was almost as ludicrous as the idea that Africa will feed the world. But 20 years from now, this continent will feed the world,” Masiyiwa predicted.

    A decade ago, Masiyiwa noted, it was almost impossible to talk about agriculture in Africa beyond simply food security. Millions of people across the continent were facing hunger on a daily basis, even starvation.

    “When you mentioned the words food and agriculture, often we spoke about hunger. I cannot say to you the hunger has gone away – but what I can say to you today is that we are beginning to address this issue. We are beginning to move agriculture forward.The green revolution of Africa… has indeed, started.”

     

    Involving the youth

    Masiyiwa urged stakeholders to connect the bulging youth population with the continent’s vast agricultural resources.

    This year’s Africa Agriculture Status Report: Youth in Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, launched at the forum, noted that young people can be the engine behind the development of new agricultural enterprises in farming research, processing, packaging, and retailing of food. However, it warns most of Africa’s under-25 population are pessimistic about farming due to a lack of land, credit, quality farm inputs and machinery.

    “Africa has the largest, most vibrant group of young people – yet we have a need to create jobs even today for over 250 million (of them). Yet we have over 60 per cent of the world’s unutilised arable land. There must be a way to connect these two dots,” said Masiyiwa.

    “African youths have the energy of the world. We have to equip them with the right skill… with the tools… with the markets. They are smart, and they are not just going to go out and work the land for nothing – as we did in yesteryears •Culled from www.howwemadeithappeninafrica.com