Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he is ‘a mad man for agriculture’
He made this known when he spoke during his address at the 9th International Trade Exhibition & Conference on Agrofood, Plastics, Printing, and Packaging which was held in Lagos on Tuesday.
The trade fair was jointly organised by FairTrade Messe and the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa.
The former president, who described himself as ‘a mad man for agriculture,’ said there was need to promote agribusiness for food security, nutrition security, employment, wealth creation, poverty elimination and income generation, particularly, foreign exchange.
According to him, the drive toward food security in the country must encapsulate food availability, affordability and accessibility.
Obasanjo said, “A friend of mine said to me, you must be a madman. I asked him what he meant, and he said if I was not a mad man I would not have gone into agriculture.
So, I am a madman for agriculture. When it has to do with agriculture, you can be sure that when you call me, I will answer.
“Food security starts with availability. We must be able to produce enough. Then there is affordability. We must be able to get everybody who needs food to be able to get the food that they need. Then there is accessibility. We must get food to where it is needed.
“Almost 40 per cent of our food go to waste after cultivation. So, food security and nutrition security makes agribusiness important.”
Speaking further, Obasanjo noted that one of the most potent means of curbing youth emigration, unemployment and insecurity is to get more young people to embrace agriculture.
He regretted that Nigerian youths often prefer to explore opportunities in the entertainment industry, which underscores the need to make agriculture more glamorous.
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