As the world celebrates 2018 World Agric Day, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Nigeria has urged the Federal government to review Nigerian’s Universities’ curricula to accommodate more agriculture-related courses, this it said will increase the interest of teeming Nigerian youth in Agriculture.
The call was made by the Head of IFPRI, Dr. George Mavrotas in Abuja on Monday.
He said more efforts are required to fast track and complement the Federal Government’s effort to revamp the agricultural sector.
“Today is the World Agriculture Day, but in Nigeria, we need to make every day, Nigeria Agriculture Sector Day.
“I can also say that the Federal Government of Nigeria in the last few years is moving in the right direction with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda a few years ago and currently with the Agriculture Promotion Policy.
“I can see also some degree of continuity with the former administration’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda. So, there is no clear departure with what we have seen before, but instead an effort to improve further on various fronts.
“The government is moving in the right direction, but there are many other policy areas that they need to focus on in order to make things happen and move fast in implementing other major reforms which are still pending in the agriculture sector.
“There is need to intensify efforts to provide the Nigerian youth with attractive incentives to join the agriculture sector and re-shape the education curricula to prepare the new generation of agriculture entrepreneurs in the country.
“ I do not think this is happening currently in the country,’’ he said.
