The Director of Agribusiness Incubation Centre, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Dr. Philips Nto, has tasked Nigerian youths with embracing agriculture as a legitimate means of becoming billionaires.
He also told them to get involved in politics at the local government levels to influence decisions on agriculture instead of allowing the older generation to decide their future.
Nto advised his office when executive members of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Abia State Chapter, paid him a working visit.
He disclosed that youths in agriculture could immediately exploit the opportunities available in the agricultural value chain, as the country currently loses about N14tn annually due to its inability to harness surplus harvest.
“The next crop of millionaires and billionaires in Nigeria would be youth entrepreneurs who tap into the opportunities available in the value chain. More than N14tn is lost annually from post-harvest mismanagement of agricultural produce,” he emphasised.
According to him, resourceful entrepreneurs could look at ways of setting up businesses that would preserve surplus harvest or turn it into varieties of consumables. They could also set up factories and transportation businesses.
The director noted that agribusiness also offers a lot of opportunities for youths to invest in and make a legitimate living instead of engaging in criminal activities.
Nto also commended the federal government and the African Development Bank for the ongoing agro-processing zone projects across the country.
He advised that the project should be designed and sited in areas with crop comparative advantage, unlike in the past, when silos were sited indiscriminately, resulting in abandonment.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Comrade Smith Silvernus, informed Nto that the council in Abia State has concluded arrangements to launch a programme tagged “Abia Youths back to Farm” and needed the assistance of ABIC.
He expressed satisfaction with the activities of ABIC and the advice it has offered the youths to embrace agriculture as a means of survival.
He noted that they would explore means of using their grassroots strength to embrace politics as advised by the ABIC director to positively influence local farming.
