YOUTHS AND AGRICULTURE
Written by Habeebullahi Faruq O. [AGBELOBA]
If agriculture remains stagnant, industries will not grow (NAAS UNILORIN). The greatest resource of a nation that can never be exhausted is human resource. Youths having a higher percentage in human resource are the power house of a nation's economy. In a country of over 180 million populations where youths constitute over half the population,wherein growth and development ought to be the order yet no tangible development is observed in our society.
As the title implies, the focus of this article is to show the relationship between the youths and agricultural sector in this part of the world. It is a known fact that in this part of the world youths have turned a blind eye towards this sector(Agriculture) and that it has been a major constraint to the development of the sector.
A general belief in our society is that agriculture is for the old and not a profession for the youths. The major stakeholders in this sector are the old ones while the youths prefer white collar jobs, holding government offices and some even prefer being idle to practicing agriculture. Imagine having over 50% of the youth population getting involved in agriculture, the sector will amass a lot of wealth and create a lot of job opportunities which can lead to eradication of poverty and food insecurity in the nation. Verily, a nation cannot do without agricultural products, that is unarguably true. Youths involvement in agriculture would bring about novel ideas and innovation such that would aid the embrace of new and modern way of agriculture. The improvement in other sectors didn’t just come around; it is due to the active participation of the youths in these sectors. Sectors like IT, oil and gas, engineering among others became a renowned field due to the intervention of the youths. Youths like Marc Zukerberg of Facebook, Jelani Aliyu Haidara of Chevrolet(the designer of Chevrolet volt, an electric car) have contributed immensely in IT and engineering sector respectively not forgetting the contribution of Harold Okwa, a 30 year old Nigerian who is co-founder and managing director of Jetseta, an aviation firm that offer helicopter and shuttle services.
HOW CAN WE ENGAGE IN YOUTHS IN AGRICULTURE?
Firstly, youths can be encouraged through improvement of agricultural education; Agricultural education in Nigeria today is nothing to write home about, it is basically theoretical and less practical and this makes it more difficult for the students to comprehend. There is this saying that goes by “I read, I forget. I see, I remember”. The practical aspect of this course should be implemented because that is where the beauty of the course lies and this would help stir the interest of the students.Having qualified graduate isn’t enough but creating the right avenue that can help fosters their interest will go a long way in having the right minds in this sector.
Recently I had an interview with a graduate of agriculture now working at a telecommunication company. He spoke about how agriculture is very lucrative and still the best sector one can ever venture into. Then I moved on to questioning him about his choice for his current workplace, knowing fully well the opportunity that lurks around in agricultural sector. His reply was that agribusiness is time consuming, and labour intensive. The reason why these two things he mentioned are still a major constraint is because the right facilities/equipments haven’t been provided by the government. There is nothing wrong with the government providing a combine harvester and other machineries needed to ease the stress undergone by farmers in the societies and other facilities such as loans, subsidies and intensive trainings that would enhance farmers operations as well as boosting their output (produce). In furtherance, he talked about the animal husbandry aspect being the most tedious aspect of agriculture because intensive care is needed. To be specific, he made mention of poultry birds and how youths don’t want a work that takes too much of their time.
It can be deduced from above that youths want the fastest source of income but neglect a sustainable option. Agribusiness is sustainable so far the right management is carried out.
Secondly, Youth agricultural club or forum should be set up and the existing ones should be empowered. Clubs like Agbelere practical oriented club, corporate farmers club, and young farmers club have been set up in different schools in Nigeria including universities. These club’s programs should be supported by school authorities and the government to foster their interest this field because if proper support is not given to these youths they will eventually abandoned the club and its program and find other things to do. If this is properly implemented youths will have that sense of belonging and it will foster youths-to-youths discussions which would in turn bring about sophisticated innovations that would help agribusiness thrive well in our country.
YOUTHS SHOULD STEP UP
Albeit the challenges with agriculture, food and raw material will remain the basic necessities for our survival, so youths should step us to becoming the most productive group of this sector. Agricultural sector is a foundation to other sectors and also bedrock that other sectors rely upon. When the foundation isn’t solid other sectors tend to strive for resources and raw materials. Programs bringing together relevant stakeholders to foster youth-friendly production, processing and marketing systems should be organized as well as working along value chains in professionalized and commercialized agriculture.
With the army of unemployed youths in this part of the world and ageing smallholder farmers producing most of the food we eat, it is imperative to get more youthful energy into food production, processing and their associated industries, to reduce hunger and poverty in this part of the world and give rural youth a viable and meaningful future. Having constitute over half of the population the impact of the youths in economic growth is nothing to write home about. Youths should become aggressive towards making a positive impact on the society.
Youths are the most users of technologies in Nigeria. Technologies such as internet and other ICT related technologies have been seriously abused in this country. These technological tools like internet are used for reasonable things in other part of the world such as internet marketing of agricultural produce.
Undergraduate youths are currently in school preparing for job that not exists. We all know the state our economy is and rate of unemployment is alarming. So youths should be prepared to be job creators and not job seekers. Agribusiness is very lucrative irrespective of the area of focus and does not require large startup funds.
Conclusively, agriculture is a business for all irrespective of the age group, level of knowledge and status in the society. Youths shouldn’t limit themselves to finding a white collar job but rather go into agribusiness for a sustainable income and future. As the heart of a nation we should be ready to scale through obstacles and make our nation proud. I am Habeebullahi Faruq Olamilekan. I’m proud to be an agriculturist.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!
Written by Habeebullahi Faruq O. [AGBELOBA]
If agriculture remains stagnant, industries will not grow (NAAS UNILORIN). The greatest resource of a nation that can never be exhausted is human resource. Youths having a higher percentage in human resource are the power house of a nation's economy. In a country of over 180 million populations where youths constitute over half the population,wherein growth and development ought to be the order yet no tangible development is observed in our society.
As the title implies, the focus of this article is to show the relationship between the youths and agricultural sector in this part of the world. It is a known fact that in this part of the world youths have turned a blind eye towards this sector(Agriculture) and that it has been a major constraint to the development of the sector.
A general belief in our society is that agriculture is for the old and not a profession for the youths. The major stakeholders in this sector are the old ones while the youths prefer white collar jobs, holding government offices and some even prefer being idle to practicing agriculture. Imagine having over 50% of the youth population getting involved in agriculture, the sector will amass a lot of wealth and create a lot of job opportunities which can lead to eradication of poverty and food insecurity in the nation. Verily, a nation cannot do without agricultural products, that is unarguably true. Youths involvement in agriculture would bring about novel ideas and innovation such that would aid the embrace of new and modern way of agriculture. The improvement in other sectors didn’t just come around; it is due to the active participation of the youths in these sectors. Sectors like IT, oil and gas, engineering among others became a renowned field due to the intervention of the youths. Youths like Marc Zukerberg of Facebook, Jelani Aliyu Haidara of Chevrolet(the designer of Chevrolet volt, an electric car) have contributed immensely in IT and engineering sector respectively not forgetting the contribution of Harold Okwa, a 30 year old Nigerian who is co-founder and managing director of Jetseta, an aviation firm that offer helicopter and shuttle services.
HOW CAN WE ENGAGE IN YOUTHS IN AGRICULTURE?
Firstly, youths can be encouraged through improvement of agricultural education; Agricultural education in Nigeria today is nothing to write home about, it is basically theoretical and less practical and this makes it more difficult for the students to comprehend. There is this saying that goes by “I read, I forget. I see, I remember”. The practical aspect of this course should be implemented because that is where the beauty of the course lies and this would help stir the interest of the students.Having qualified graduate isn’t enough but creating the right avenue that can help fosters their interest will go a long way in having the right minds in this sector.
Recently I had an interview with a graduate of agriculture now working at a telecommunication company. He spoke about how agriculture is very lucrative and still the best sector one can ever venture into. Then I moved on to questioning him about his choice for his current workplace, knowing fully well the opportunity that lurks around in agricultural sector. His reply was that agribusiness is time consuming, and labour intensive. The reason why these two things he mentioned are still a major constraint is because the right facilities/equipments haven’t been provided by the government. There is nothing wrong with the government providing a combine harvester and other machineries needed to ease the stress undergone by farmers in the societies and other facilities such as loans, subsidies and intensive trainings that would enhance farmers operations as well as boosting their output (produce). In furtherance, he talked about the animal husbandry aspect being the most tedious aspect of agriculture because intensive care is needed. To be specific, he made mention of poultry birds and how youths don’t want a work that takes too much of their time.
It can be deduced from above that youths want the fastest source of income but neglect a sustainable option. Agribusiness is sustainable so far the right management is carried out.
Secondly, Youth agricultural club or forum should be set up and the existing ones should be empowered. Clubs like Agbelere practical oriented club, corporate farmers club, and young farmers club have been set up in different schools in Nigeria including universities. These club’s programs should be supported by school authorities and the government to foster their interest this field because if proper support is not given to these youths they will eventually abandoned the club and its program and find other things to do. If this is properly implemented youths will have that sense of belonging and it will foster youths-to-youths discussions which would in turn bring about sophisticated innovations that would help agribusiness thrive well in our country.
YOUTHS SHOULD STEP UP
Albeit the challenges with agriculture, food and raw material will remain the basic necessities for our survival, so youths should step us to becoming the most productive group of this sector. Agricultural sector is a foundation to other sectors and also bedrock that other sectors rely upon. When the foundation isn’t solid other sectors tend to strive for resources and raw materials. Programs bringing together relevant stakeholders to foster youth-friendly production, processing and marketing systems should be organized as well as working along value chains in professionalized and commercialized agriculture.
With the army of unemployed youths in this part of the world and ageing smallholder farmers producing most of the food we eat, it is imperative to get more youthful energy into food production, processing and their associated industries, to reduce hunger and poverty in this part of the world and give rural youth a viable and meaningful future. Having constitute over half of the population the impact of the youths in economic growth is nothing to write home about. Youths should become aggressive towards making a positive impact on the society.
Youths are the most users of technologies in Nigeria. Technologies such as internet and other ICT related technologies have been seriously abused in this country. These technological tools like internet are used for reasonable things in other part of the world such as internet marketing of agricultural produce.
Undergraduate youths are currently in school preparing for job that not exists. We all know the state our economy is and rate of unemployment is alarming. So youths should be prepared to be job creators and not job seekers. Agribusiness is very lucrative irrespective of the area of focus and does not require large startup funds.
Conclusively, agriculture is a business for all irrespective of the age group, level of knowledge and status in the society. Youths shouldn’t limit themselves to finding a white collar job but rather go into agribusiness for a sustainable income and future. As the heart of a nation we should be ready to scale through obstacles and make our nation proud. I am Habeebullahi Faruq Olamilekan. I’m proud to be an agriculturist.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!
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