President Muhammadu Buhari has given the nod for the employment of 30,000 agricultural and other science graduates.
The new recruitment drive is under the National Young Farmers Scheme launched by President Muhammadu Buhari and implemented by the agency.
The graduates will be employed permanently by the National Agricultural and Land Development Agency (NALDA).
This was disclosed by NALDA’s executive secretary, Paul Ikonne, on Monday, January 25, while briefing journalists on the activities of the agency in Abuja.
Ikonne explained that recruited graduates will be trained on how to collect soil samples, conduct soil test, and also render extension services to farmers.
He noted that findings have shown that many farmers do not have an understanding of the nutrients requirement of their soil which leads to low productivity. He said this prompted President Buhari to mandate the agency to come up with measures to ensure the soil yields maximum output for farmers.
He said: “We cannot achieve food security without understanding our soil, without getting our farmers to know what the soil requires.”
Ikonne said the process will be done in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science and state governments just as he noted that the graduates will be engaged full time.
According to Ikonne, Nigerian farmers will pay as low as N500 per soil sample collected and analysed. Also, each of the employees, after the training, will be equipped with the necessary tools to transmit information collected into the agency’s national database.
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