FG targets 5m agric jobs on $1.1bn Brazil loan

Federal Government is targeting five million jobs from its “Green Imperatives”, an agricultural initiative launched on Thursday by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to be funded with $1.1 billion loan from Brazil.

Osinbajo described the project as “signature- focused” and “a game changer”, as the project will lead to mechanised agricultural revolution.

“We cannot bring our nation out of poverty without investment in agriculture. Also, the sheer number of young people coming of age will not only need to be fed but employed. They want dignified jobs with decent pay,” Osinbajo said.

“Today, we are producing paddy rice as much as we need because of mechanisation of agriculture. The only way to make the quantum leap required in our economy is what we are doing today with this project, the Green Imperative,” he said.

One of the reasons young people don’t warm up to agriculture is because it is not mechanized, Osinbajo said, promising that the project would change all of that.

“We have made a significant difference in creating food sufficiency and decent jobs. We have ensured that this will be private sectordriven,” he said.

The Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ricardo Guerra de Araujo, said his country was ready to assist Nigeria create centres that will assemble 10,000 tractors annually.

He revealed that the country will also create 707 centres to train not less than 10,000 Nigerian farmers, mostly youths, to encourage farming in the country.

“It has become imperative to make agriculture attractive to young farmers since this is the only way to develop human capital. The truth is that agriculture has the potential to create jobs for millions, support small scale farmers to actualise their potential,” he said.

The ambassador also called on the Nigerian government to urgently work hard to halt the challenge of post-harvest losses estimated at billions of naira.