President Muhammadu Buhari has urged agencies involved in agriculture to include the youths in driving modern methods of farming. The president stated this in Abuja recently, when he inaugurated the National Young Farmers Scheme, designed by the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) to elicit more youth interest in farming.

He assured all those interested that an enabling environment would be created for full participation. According to him, agriculture remains the backbone of the Nigerian economy, being the largest contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said: “We will do more to expand, modernise and revolutionise our agriculture, which is our most important asset.

“I have directed that all NALDA’s abandoned farm estates be retrieved to enable thousands of our young men and women to be engaged in farming. This administration will be achieving agricultural mechanization through this scheme and I am confident that Nigeria, under my watch, will achieve food security by producing most of what we eat.”

The president also said that: “In good harvest years, we may even export our surpluses and earn foreign exchange.’’ Buhari expressed the hope that the resuscitation of NALDA would make Nigeria food sufficient and, in a few years, begin to earn more revenue from export of agricultural commodities. “By virtue of my passion and desire for agriculture and also as a farmer myself, I am directly supervising NALDA as an authority under the Presidency” he added. New Nigeria News