• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Agriculture: FG targets 5million jobs, on $1.1b Brazil loan

Agriculture: FG targets 5million jobs, on $1.1b Brazil loan

Federal government is targeting five million jobs from its “ Green Imperatives”, an agricultural initiative launched on Thursday by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to be funded with $1.1b loan from Brazil.

Osinbajo described the project as “signature focused”, adding that “We cannot bring our nation out of poverty without investment in agriculture. Also the share number of young people coming into of age will not only need to be fed but employed. They want dignified jobs with decent pay.”

He described the project as “as a game changer”, as the project will lead to mechanized agricultural revolution

“Today, we are producing paddy rice as much as we need because of mechanization of agriculture. The only way to make the quantum leap required in our economy is what we are doing today with this project, the Green Imperative.”

According to him, “One of the reasons young people don’t warm up to agriculture is because it is not mechanized but that will change with this project”

“We have made a significant difference in creating food sufficiency and decent jobs. We have ensured that this will be private sector driven.”

The Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ricardo Guerra de Araujo, said his country was ready to assist Nigeria create centers that will assemble 10,000 tractors,annually.

He revealed that the country will also create 707 centers to train not less than 10,000 Nigeria farmers who are mostly youths to encourage farming in Nigeria

“It has become imperative to make agriculture attractive to young farmers since this is the only way to develop human capital”.

“The truth is that agriculture has the potentials to create jobs for millions, support small scale farmers to actualize their potentials”

He also called on the Nigerian government to urgently work hard to halt the challenge of post harvest loses established at billions of Naira.

Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed said Nigeria secured a total loan package of US$1.1billion majorly from the Brazilian Government which will be disbursed in four tranches over a period of two years.

“It is pertinent to state here that greater percentage of the loan will be provided in kind through the supply of agricultural machineries and implements in form of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts.

“This arrangement is expected to reduce fiduciary risks and create more employment opportunities for our teeming youth and those that will be involved in assembling the machineries and implements.

The initiative, according to her, will be purely private sector led in all its operations including the assembling of the machineries/ implements, operation of the service centres and the agro-processing centres.

The Minister said the project will be implemented in all the 774 Local Government Areas of the country in phases.

The initiative is part of federal government plans to mitigate key agricultural gaps including the inability to meet domestic food requirements and Nigeria’s inability to satisfy growing export demands in terms of quantity and quality

The country is challenged by her input system, hampered by farming models that are largely inefficient, poor seedlings, lack of adequate fertilizer input, poor irrigation system as well as absence of crop protection.

The project is also aimed at tapping from the successful experience of Brazil in agriculture to improve agriculture as Nigeria and Brazil are said to possess similar environmental conditions

The program, which is tagged “The Green Imperative”., is expected to amongst other things entail the introduction of advanced Brazilian Agricultural Equipment (ABIMAQ) and the establishment of Training Centres for Nigerian Farmers across the country, to boost agriculture which contributed about 39% to the gross National Product GNP in 2017 and employs no less than 80% of the Nigeria Labour force.

The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, in his speech, said agriculture should provide another empire through agriculture, adding that “With Brazilian support we will get to where we want to get to.

“Importation alone does not make a country great, production does. By importation we also imported poverty and unemployment but this administration is set to reverse all that. Work is prayer in action.”

Ogbe assured the Brazilian team that the environment will be friendly and welcoming, adding that, “There is nothing wrong in borrowing if you use it well, it is when you waste that you invite disaster.”