President Muhammadu Buhari has flagged off the National Young Farmers Scheme under the National Agricultural Land Development Authority at the State House in Abuja today.
This is according to a tweet by the Government of Nigeria, as seen by Nairametrics.
“President @MBuhari Flags-off the National Young Farmers Scheme under the National Agricultural Land Development Authority at the State House, Abuja.”
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What you should know
- The National Young Farmers Scheme is currently a pilot programme that involves 100 young Nigerians from each of the 774 local governments in Nigeria.
- The project’s final goal is to encourage and empower 1000 farmers from each of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGA) in Nigeria each year, and it is intended to cut across all facets of agriculture.
- The programme is currently being administered by the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA).
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President @MBuhari Flags-off the National Young Farmers Scheme under the National Agricultural Land Development Authority at the State House, Abuja.#AsoVillaToday pic.twitter.com/ijzKV0kbZW
— Government of Nigeria (@NigeriaGov) November 10, 2020
Why it matters
The programme is in line with the present administration’s quest to diversify our economy and ensure self-sufficiency in food production.
The goal of achieving self-sufficiency in food production can easily be achieved when the interest of the youth that constitutes a sizeable proportion is stimulated towards agricultural activities.
In a nutshell, this programme when successfully implemented is capable of:
- Growing agricultural output and industry in Nigeria.
- Saving hard-earned foreign exchange, decrease the over-dependence of the country on import.
- Ensure self-sufficiency in agriculture.