Nigeria’s National Agriculture Lands Development Authority (NALDA) is sending 200 young farmers to Morocco and Israel on a capacity building trip focusing on crop production and animal husbandry.
The aim of the initiative is to make agriculture more attractive to young people, as well as allow them to benefit from Morocco and Israel’s modern agriculture and agribusiness practices. The 200 beneficiaries received their travel documents in a ceremony that took place in Abuja, Nigeria.
During the ceremony, NALDA’s Executive Secretary Prince Paul Ikonne said that the initiative comes in line with the National Young Farmers Scheme (NYFS), which Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has launched.
Around 1,000 farmers from the 774 Nigerian Local Government Areas (LGAs) have benefited from the NYFS according to the Nigerian government. The scheme has been creating 774,000 employment opportunities each year.
NALDA’s main goals
Ikonne is hopeful that the capacity building initiative would lead to better food production in Nigeria, enabling the West African country to meet its domestic needs, as well as exports. According to Ikonne, sending the young farmers to Morocco and Israel is part of the new “Aggressive Food Production” project in collaboration with Nigeria’s Ministry of Education.
NALDA chose Morocco and Israel to host the young farmers due to both countries’ expertise in the areas of crop production and greenhouse management. Nigeria aims to revive its agricultural sector and reposition it as a pillar of the nation’s economy. “We must produce what we eat and eat what we produce,” said Buhari in a statement in 2016.
NALDA’s main goals are to empower local farmers, the main drivers of the agricultural industry in Nigeria, as well as achieve food and fiber security and diversify Nigeria’s economy.
Morocco has become a model for many African countries amid various challenges facing national agriculture policies on the African continent, the majority of which arise from structural imbalances controlling an increasingly globalized economy. According to Morocco’s Ministry of Agriculture, the North African country’s agriculture and fisheries sectors have performed well during the 2021-2022 season in spite of the global crisis.
