Agric expert urges Soludo to empower youths in agric to increase GDP

By Ekuson Nw’Ogbunka
Abuja

An agric expert, Casmir Orie, who doubles as the immediate past coordinator, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) in Orumba south local government area, Anambra state, has charged Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of the state to encourage and empower the youths, who are into agricultural farm in the state, so as to boost the state’s economy and increase its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Speaking to our correspondent through a telephone interview recently, the agric expert observed that empowerment of the youth in the state would not only reduce to the barest minimum, the rate of unemployment, but also youth restiveness in the state.

Regretting that all efforts made to reach the governor proved abortive, he said they needed: mechanical support, so as to go into mechanised agric, by providing them with tractors; input support, by providing them with seedlings, such as corns, yam tubers, as well was cassava stems, among others and; financial support, with which to be hiring labourers, in absence of tractors.

“There are many youths who have interest in agriculture and went ahead to form agric cooperstive. What they need from the government is input and mechanical support; mechanical support in the sense that, when we are talking about agriculture now, we are talkig about mechanised agriculture.

“If the government can support them with inputs or something like cassava stems or may be herbicides to use in their farms, that is all they are requiring. It isn’t necessary for the government to give them money. It is only for the government to give them mechanical and input supports, they are into agriculture and they will develop hectres of farm lands, both casava, maize, yam, among others.

“Now, once the youths go into full scale agriculture, you see that they are only empowered into something. The agriculture they are into will begin to yield income, both for them and for the state. In doing that, you then see that the production input of the state will increase. It will increase the GDP of the state. It will equally reduce youth unemployment and insecurity.

“This empowerment of the youth in agriculture, is going to achieve three things at the same time. There are youths that are willing and already here in Anambr state, the government is empowering youths to go into Information Communication Technology (ICT) and they are also empowering those who are into different trades, to improve and escalate on them. But unfortunatel, they are not doing enough about those who have interest in agriculture.”

Responding to a question put to him, if he had ever met the governor and made the demand from him, he said: “When I was in power, I couldn’t meet the governor and I wrote many times for an opportunity to meet him, but all to no avail, but I know that I met the commissioner for agriculture, Dr Foster Ihejiofor for a number of times, who had all the time been encouraging the youth in agricultural.

“Even the farms we developed, he would put in his own personal resources, in getting us input and Value Chain Development Partner (VCDP) from the ministry of agriculture, that helped us clear the farm land. When we wrote for the supply of casava stems, we didn’t get them, perhaps due to government breaucracy. But at a time, he started to use his own personal fund, to show that he was in support of us in agricultural development. As an individual, there is a limit he can do.”

Speaking on his assessment of the youths who had been in the sector, he responded thus: “It was at my involvement in agriculture that I found out that some of the youths who were into it through empowerment and things like that from the previous government were doing marvelously doing well. Like Kingagro, who is into poultry farm; he is doing marvelously well, having been supported by the previous government. There are many of them who are doing wonderfully well, who were supported, may be by the previous governments.”

When pressed further, Orie treated with a wave of hand, the belief that land is scarce and the ones available were infertile.

Hear him: “In Anambra state, we have a vast area of undeveloped and fertile land. The problem we have is that our agricultural land have neither been developed, nor used. In Ogbunka, Orumba south, where we developed about 20 hectres of land, which yielded wonderfully well, if you need 200 hectres, they are there. Although, the government assisted us with tractors, but unfortunately, we couldn’t get enough cassava stem to plant on them, due to the fact that the government didn’t give us cassava stems on demand. But the ones we planted yielded very well.”