“Let’s go to the Farm”.

By Blessing Eniola Apena, Edited by Nkechi Obi.

Prescribing that more youths go into agriculture due to unemployment does not fully define the need for youths in the Agric space. It only concludes that, for there to be more employment opportunities, the Agricultural Sector must be populated. Yes! Undeniably, Agriculture helps greatly in the creation of jobs as it is a major booster in the economy and it encompasses so many fields to make it what it is, but it should not be seen as just an open space for any or everyone that cannot find a job of their specialisation to key into. Instead, it should be seen as one of the other “important” fields that people run into, because it is. It should be seen that for there to be less unemployment, there should be a drive to wanting to dwell in a sector that has no restriction to the number of people in the field. This sector needs more hands in it, preferably more young hands, and sharp minds that fully understand it as much as have passion for it.

Youths mentally escape from agriculture with the thought of it being a “dirty man’s job” or for the older people, or a job with not much revenue, and so have classified it for a duty meant for a certain class of people or a certain ethnic group. These reasons and more, deterred youth participation, driving the need for the promotion of youth participation in this sector. Various stakeholders have developed new strategies to encourage youths in Agribusiness involvement, such as linking agriculture to technology and social media. As technology and media are used as main attractions to get the youths into the space, and for a fact it is of good effect, as we now have more youths in the Agric business thanks to the use of technology. However, I am proposing that the youths go beyond technology when it comes to agriculture, but also be physically involved. The active participation of the younger generation is of great importance to the future of the Agricultural sector, and the introduction of new innovative practices into agriculture will make agriculture easier and
more exciting. These new practices should include GPS Guided Drone, Soilless Farming, Smart Farming, Agro Crowdfunding and few others.

Why Do We Need Youths in the Agric Space?

• The youths have technological advantage, which would stir up the agricultural sector into a new age in Nigeria.
• Young minds and new ideas, result to innovation in production, innovation in tools, innovation in processing and innovation in delivery.
• Agriculture is a field that supports the youth’s vison of being their own boss, and it is a resourceful entrepreneurial choice for them, which would help brighten the employment rate of the economy.

Better Ways to Attract Youths into Agriculture?

• There should be ground root impacted idea of the importance of agriculture in the minds of students as they grow from the grassroot of learning. There is no better way than catching them young; and the knowledge should be backed with proper understanding.
• There should be adequate tools in schools; primary, secondary, and tertiary, to back theory with practice. This would stir an interest and excitement to know more, as the need to know more leads to innovation, in terms of better planting/cultivating practices, better equipment and better data collation and generation.
• Making available, extensive trainings in the different aspects of farming.
• Holding seminars or events that opens the eyes of the youths on how lucrative Agribusiness is, bringing to reminder the never-ending need for food in the system.

To brighten the knowledge of agriculture, Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange provides a platform, for youths to participate actively in the commodities business.
Agriculture is one of the main sectors being supported by the Exchange through the development of unique financial instruments to support the following:

• Capital Raising for working capital for Small Medium Enterprises within the Agricultural space.
• Development of retail Agric backed financial instruments for younger investors to participate.
• Access to Agricultural trading data generated daily by the Exchange.
• Access to qualified professionals in the agricultural and capital market sector to provide necessary expertise for young individuals.
• Access to sensitization and educational programs for knowledge development across all the value chains of agriculture.

The above reasons indicate hope for a brighter future for agriculture in Nigeria.

The use of the world’s advancement tool “technology” and active participation as labourers, Nigeria’s economy is sure to improve through this sector. The involvement of the Youth not just through online activities, trading activities, or investment activities, but also in labour activities will contribute to the growth of agriculture which would boost the ecosystem and help the nation at large.