Mr Moses Oladipupo, the Vice President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Osun, on Monday urged the youths to embrace farming to liberate themselves from poverty.
Oladipupo said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo that farming is a lucrative and self gratifying profession.
He stressed that farming was not a profession for the old and poor, but a lucrative venture with lots of opportunities.
The AFAN vice president advised youths to take up farming rather than wasting the better part of their lives looking for white collar jobs.
Oladipupo lamented over the stereotyping of the profession, which discouraged people, including graduates in agriculture-related courses, from going to the farm.
“I realized early in life the many potentials in agriculture and as cocoa farmer, I am one of the four top cocoa merchants in the state who is making a good living out of farming.’’
The AFAN official said the era when old people were left with cultivation of land and planting of crops was history.
He explained that lots of youths like himself, who were well read, well travelled and experienced in international best farming practices were already into large scale commercial farming.
Oladipupo therefore encouraged the youths including unemployed graduates to venture into agriculture so as to be self-reliant, thereby creating employment and wealth for themselves.
He said that the AFAN leadership in the state had been taken over by youths with the zeal and strength to upgrade and steer farming activities adopting international best practice.
Oladipupo stressed that the association would work closely with the state government to attract youths into agriculture, to reduce unemployment and create wealth.
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