THE OIL BOOM IS OVER AND HUNGER IN THE LAND - RESETTING NIGERIAN YOUTH FOR AGREIPRENEURSHIP (AGRICULTURE ENTREPRENEURS) PROF. CHINEDUM NWAJIUBA AT THE YOUTH AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME, MARCH 23, 2024
Posted on March 25th, 2024 at 11:19 AM
Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, in his address at the Youth Agriculture Programme on March 23, 2024, highlighted the pressing issue of declining youth involvement in agriculture and its implications for Nigeria's future. He emphasized the need for young entrepreneurs in agriculture to address the challenges of hunger and unemployment. Despite the aging farming population and outdated farming methods, he urged for a deliberate effort to attract younger generations to farming. The lack of technological advancements and low returns on agriculture have discouraged youth participation. Prof. Nwajiuba emphasized the urgency to modernize agriculture and resocialize society away from reliance on oil. He drew parallels to the transformative era under Michael Okpara's leadership and called for collective action to revitalize the agricultural sector. The Youth Agriculture Programme aims to empower young people to engage in high-value crop farming and light technologies, fostering further training and empowerment for sustainable agricultural practices.
THE CORE CHALLENGE - THE YOUTHS HAVE ABANDONED AGRICULTURE .
Our agricultural workforce is predominantly elderly, with farmers averaging over 55 years old. Despite this, technological advancements in agriculture have not kept pace, leading to a decline in young farmers. The lack of incentives and low returns on agriculture deter youth participation, exacerbating the paradox of high youth unemployment and labor scarcity, leading to poverty and food insecurity. Urgent efforts are needed to attract and support younger generations in farming, addressing both the economic and technological barriers that discourage their involvement.
Olaudah Equiano, an Igbo, writing in the 18th century, described agricultural technology in terms of hoe and cutlass. Three centuries (21st) after, that is still largely the common level of technology we operate, even when our consumption and technology use in other sectors (transport, communication, etc.) have advanced and may in some cases be at the same level as the most advanced countries). But our agriculture mechanisation and management practices are at the primitive level.
How do we expect our youth to be as engaged as they were 60 years ago? How do we explain the absence of systematic support and incentives for agriculture, which we find in other serious countries and parts of the world? How do explain the multiplicity of universities and other institutions with agricultural programmes, degree holders and professors, with our agriculture tools and equipment largely remaining in the 18th century? How do we explain the collapse of agricultural extension services? How do we explain the idleness of the Ministries of Agriculture? How do we explain mass hunger around us?
Prof. Theodore Schultz teaches us that those who farm the same way their forefathers farmed will never be able to feed themselves no matter how hard they worked or how fertile their soil. Those who apply technologies will not only be able to feed themselves but will have surpluses to sell to their neigbours.
Yet, we have neither hardworking labour in agriculture, nor fertile land, as was the case in the past. The changes in the Nigeria economy, coming mostly with the oil boom in the early 1970s, and changes in values since then, has changed the social and policy environment significantly from the saner era of the 1950s and 1960s. In the past, youths willingly worked for adults without asking for payment (igba onwe onru; young men collectively working for each other’s family).
Currently, elderly villagers struggle to find laborers to harvest palm fruits or cultivate the soil. The rising population and urban migration further exacerbate labor shortages and lead to the abandonment of fertile lands in Igboland. Agricultural stakeholders prioritize challenges such as labor scarcity, expensive labor, and poor soil quality. Ultimately, an aging rural population relying on manual tools and infertile soil cannot sustain food production.
LESSONS FROM MICHEAL OKPARA.
Once upon a time in our history, a man and a government happened in our land, and changed the society and economy fundamentally. Get familiar with that. Find and read the book by Dr. Pius Okigbo, “Okparanomics: The Economic and Social Philosophy of Michael Okpara”.
In the absence of Michael Okpara, and the energy level he unleashed first as Minister of Agriculture, and then from 1959, as Premier of old Eastern region, which by the mid-1960s, had transformed that region to perhaps the fastest growing economy in the world, we should be waiting for no one. All hands-on deck. As agricultural, industrial and social revolution had happened to us between 1950s and 1960s, we can do it again today.
THE YOUTH AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME
We are encouraging our young people to get involved with crops which have high market value. Some of these crops even have export markets.
This is an important focus of the programme today. We will present other aspects of crops and livestock, light technologies and approaches in an era and area, with the challenges of scarcity and high cost of labour, and poor soils.
There are other simple things we will be recommending and presenting, but we cannot solve all our problems in one day.
We hope from this exercise today to take the Gideon way in Judges 7:4-16, and locate a smaller group for further training, and further empowerment.
Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba
Chairman, Board of Directors, Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST)
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THE CORE CHALLENGE - THE YOUTHS HAVE ABANDONED AGRICULTURE .
Our agricultural workforce is predominantly elderly, with farmers averaging over 55 years old. Despite this, technological advancements in agriculture have not kept pace, leading to a decline in young farmers. The lack of incentives and low returns on agriculture deter youth participation, exacerbating the paradox of high youth unemployment and labor scarcity, leading to poverty and food insecurity. Urgent efforts are needed to attract and support younger generations in farming, addressing both the economic and technological barriers that discourage their involvement.
Olaudah Equiano, an Igbo, writing in the 18th century, described agricultural technology in terms of hoe and cutlass. Three centuries (21st) after, that is still largely the common level of technology we operate, even when our consumption and technology use in other sectors (transport, communication, etc.) have advanced and may in some cases be at the same level as the most advanced countries). But our agriculture mechanisation and management practices are at the primitive level.
How do we expect our youth to be as engaged as they were 60 years ago? How do we explain the absence of systematic support and incentives for agriculture, which we find in other serious countries and parts of the world? How do explain the multiplicity of universities and other institutions with agricultural programmes, degree holders and professors, with our agriculture tools and equipment largely remaining in the 18th century? How do we explain the collapse of agricultural extension services? How do we explain the idleness of the Ministries of Agriculture? How do we explain mass hunger around us?
Prof. Theodore Schultz teaches us that those who farm the same way their forefathers farmed will never be able to feed themselves no matter how hard they worked or how fertile their soil. Those who apply technologies will not only be able to feed themselves but will have surpluses to sell to their neigbours.
Yet, we have neither hardworking labour in agriculture, nor fertile land, as was the case in the past. The changes in the Nigeria economy, coming mostly with the oil boom in the early 1970s, and changes in values since then, has changed the social and policy environment significantly from the saner era of the 1950s and 1960s. In the past, youths willingly worked for adults without asking for payment (igba onwe onru; young men collectively working for each other’s family).
Currently, elderly villagers struggle to find laborers to harvest palm fruits or cultivate the soil. The rising population and urban migration further exacerbate labor shortages and lead to the abandonment of fertile lands in Igboland. Agricultural stakeholders prioritize challenges such as labor scarcity, expensive labor, and poor soil quality. Ultimately, an aging rural population relying on manual tools and infertile soil cannot sustain food production.
LESSONS FROM MICHEAL OKPARA.
Once upon a time in our history, a man and a government happened in our land, and changed the society and economy fundamentally. Get familiar with that. Find and read the book by Dr. Pius Okigbo, “Okparanomics: The Economic and Social Philosophy of Michael Okpara”.
In the absence of Michael Okpara, and the energy level he unleashed first as Minister of Agriculture, and then from 1959, as Premier of old Eastern region, which by the mid-1960s, had transformed that region to perhaps the fastest growing economy in the world, we should be waiting for no one. All hands-on deck. As agricultural, industrial and social revolution had happened to us between 1950s and 1960s, we can do it again today.
THE YOUTH AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME
We are encouraging our young people to get involved with crops which have high market value. Some of these crops even have export markets.
This is an important focus of the programme today. We will present other aspects of crops and livestock, light technologies and approaches in an era and area, with the challenges of scarcity and high cost of labour, and poor soils.
There are other simple things we will be recommending and presenting, but we cannot solve all our problems in one day.
We hope from this exercise today to take the Gideon way in Judges 7:4-16, and locate a smaller group for further training, and further empowerment.
Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba
Chairman, Board of Directors, Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST)