Abuja: Uplifting Youths through Agriculture (UYOTA), a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), says self-sufficient farming will help address youth unemployment.
Nnamdi Adigwe, co-founder of UYOTA, submitted this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.
Adigwe said that self-sufficient farming was key to achieving food sovereignty for national prosperity.
He said the CSO was working towards organising a youth summit to reorient the youth on the benefits of agriculture.
“The planned summit focuses on addressing youth employment, especially in rural areas.
“We plan to develop tangible solutions and programmes in the agricultural sector as we believe agriculture provides a great opportunity for addressing youth unemployment.”
Adigwe said the CSO was committed to engaging youths in agriculture through the traditional rulers.
According to him, UYOTA has reached out to youths in different geopolitical regions, educating them on self-sufficient farming and encouraging them to see farming as an attractive and viable profession.
Adigwe expressed confidence in agriculture’s capability to address the problem of brain drain, otherwise known as Japa syndrome.
UYOTA is in partnership with ED Group Nigeria and has support from the China Association for International Economic Cooperation (CIBDC).
“We have proposed Smart Farming Industrial Estate with the model being Live-Learn-Work, which focuses on youth employment in Nigeria,” he said.
