President Bola Tinubu on Monday said that the Federal Governemnt was working with international partners to empower young Nigerians with skills in modern agriculture for financial self-dependence and to improve food security.
Tinubu stated this during the launch of the Renewed Hope Agricultural Mechanisation Programme in Abuja on Monday where he also inaugurated 2,000 advanced tractors and over 9,000 specialised farm implements.
He said the reforms being introduced by his administration were aimed at making farming more attractive to young Nigerians.
“We have here over 2,000 advanced tractors, 50 industrial-grade land preparation bulldozers, 12 fully equipped mobile workshops, and 9,000-plus specialised farming implements.
“This equipment, when deployed will empower mechanisation and service providers, create job opportunities, and make farming easy and more sexy for our young ones.
“You don’t have to use an 18th-century method for a 21st-century agricultural farming implement,” he said.
He explained that his administration’s strategy encompassed year-round cultivation, drastically reducing Nigeria’s seasonal shortages.
Tinubu said, “We have friends across the world. We have Belarus committed to a programme that will empower our youths, teach them how to do things, get them off the street, empower them in technology, review mechanisation, and empower them in machine repairs and fabrication.
“The allocation of this equipment throughout the country will do a lot. Given our nation’s arable land and favourable climate that we have, we must seize the opportunity to achieve complete agricultural independence and food sovereignty.”