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AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT: Senator Olujimi Blames Migration in the ECOWAS States on Food Insufficiency

Senator Biodun Olujimi, representing Ekiti South Senatorial District and also a member of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) Parliament, has blamed migration in the sub-region on food insufficiency. Speaking with journalist at the sidelines of the Parliament delocalized meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources/ Infrastructure/ Energy and Mines/ Industry and Private Sector in Bissau, Capital of Guinea Bissau, Sen. Olujimi called for enough budgetary allocation to agriculture while stressing on the role and impact of sufficient food in a Nation and how it could reduce the menace of migration across the sub-region. “The youths in West Africa must know that food sufficiency is key to whatever we are doing and that is the reason why we have people migrating. When you don’t have enough to eat, your family does not have enough to eat, then there is a problem, hence migration. But if there is food sufficiency in West Africa we won’t have to be a part of this great migration that we all undertake” she said. Speaking further, Olujimi called on ECOWAS states to empower women and youths to be more involved in Agriculture as a way of addressing food insecurity. She feels by so doing, interest in white-collar jobs will be drastically reduced and unemployment addressed. “I believe the youths and women are key to getting these things done. We need to encourage them, we need to give farm implements, we need to ensure that they are not going to use their physical strength to do it, we need to make sure that when they do it they get results and they are able to export and make the required foreign exchange which will spur them on to do better and greater things; “Has there been an evaluation of the involvement of women and youths in agricultural management? Because I see us pay lip service to the involvement of women and youth every time when agriculture is mentioned. Don’t we need to do an evaluation to see if there is any twist to it? Because I see most youths and women cannot really concentrate because they don’t have wherewithal. So, as a community there is a need for us to do an evaluation and see if really we are involving our women and youths in Agriculture; “In Nigeria where I come from the youths are not willing to do that, they are willing to do the white collar jobs rather than doing to the farm which is very profitable and better on the long run. As a community there is a need for us to do an evaluation and see how we can find ways by which we can convince our youths and women who are critical to the sustenance of the agriculture sector, how we can involve them in getting into agriculture and making it better than what we have right now” Olujimi said. Speaking earlier, the Guinea Bissau Director General of Agriculture, Julho Malam Injai while addressing the Parliament lamented the impact of the importation of agricultural products on the country’s economy and called for diversification to boost crop production. He also gave recommendations for the sub-region in general which include; reduction of human efforts and increasing the involvement of young people to boost the sector, among others. He said, “despite the efforts made by the Government and its development partners in the implementation of agrarian policies, the sector continues to face constraints such as Agricultural Mechanization almost non-existent (only 1% of potential); Lack of infrastructure for hydro-agricultural management and weak production support structures; Secondary roads, rural lanes, and degraded conservation and staking infrastructures limit the internal and sub-regional commercialization of agro-silvo-pastoral products; Weak Investment Climate in the production, processing, and conservation of agricultural products; Insufficient human resources, among others. “There is a need for Mechanize agriculture to reduce man's physical effort and increase productivity and national agricultural production; Recruit Young Staff in order to boost the agrarian sector; Improve salary conditions to encourage the permanence of staff” Julho concluded

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