A stakeholder in the agricultural sector has warned that Nigeria is in a huge food crisis, maintaining that it needs the youths to achieve food security. Specifically, the Country Director, Nigeria, Heifer International, Rufus Idris, stated this on the sidelines of the official launch of Ayute Africa challenge, a technology business and innovator sourcing platform aimed at addressing challenges faced by smallholder farmers. Idris observed the need for youths to think up innovations and technologies that would address critical issues in the agricultural space, adding that in a country where food inflation is skyrocketing, it needs the youths and technologies to transform the agricultural sector. Speaking on the Ayute Africa challenge, the country director informed that “To participate, the entrant has to be a youth from 35 years and below. “Also, you must have a solution that fixes a million issues in the agricultural space and it must be a startup, not for companies,” he informed. On her part, Commissioner for Agriculture, Lagos State, Abisola Olusanya, noted that the lack of youth participation in agriculture was due to the nation’s inability to celebrate young people and individuals that have done well in the agricultural sector. Also, Olusanya decried the levity with which the nation has taken the issue of food security, pointing out that the more the country experiences tribal and ethnic conflicts, it will continue to have issues around its food systems and distribution. “Only then will we begin to understand that to grow our own food is pertinent and that is where technology actually comes into place,” she added. According to her, other factors responsible for lack of youth participation in agriculture are lack of access to funding, technical skills, training, capacity building and the perceived unprofitability around agriculture. The commissioner stressed that the perception of the country’s agriculture industry has to change before deploying technology, saying changing the image of the sector would attract more youths. Furthermore, Olusanya identified lack of data as the biggest challenge hindering agricultural development over the years, emphasising that the situation limits decision making processes.
