CEM REPORT, AGRICULTURE | Young people in Lagos State have been sensitised on the availability of funding worth N22 billion for agriculture development in the country.
The Founder, AgribusinessNG, African Farmer Mogaji, at the sensitisation forum aimed at empowering 5000 youths with agric funding, and he noted that the fund made available by MasterCard Foundation in care of Sterling Bank has been lying fallow for almost two years.
At the forum held at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Mogaji noted that the funds were available for aspiring young farmers interested in agriculture Thisday reports.
He noted that if the youths have deployed or accessed 12 billion of the available fund in the last few years, Nigeria would have not been faced with the scarcity and rising cost of food prices currently being experienced in the country.
“So today is just to create awareness to lead them to know how to access the funding and the logistics involved, what the money is for, and different aspects of agriculture that they can go into. So primarily, we need our youth to be more exposed to know the opportunities available.
“We are saying there is no food, cost of food is rising, the cost of living is rising, but this money is down there. So if we have deployed the first batch of 12 billion actively in the last few years, it would have reduced the pressure that we are having on food prices and demands, so it is very crucial that we bring the youths together and across the value chain. So it is not just for production, if you want to grow tomatoes grow anything. If you want to do transport you want to do logistics, and we have also brought various aggravators who are very crucial to this event.”
