President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday urged African leaders to secure the continent through aggressive investment in the Agriculture sector to increase food productivity.
The President, who gave the admonition in his goodwill message to the Feed Africa Summit of Heads of State and Government, in Dakar, the capital of Senagal, also urged the continent’s leaders to demonstrate the political will and recommit themselves to transformation of agriculture in the continent.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said President Buhari told his counterparts that Africa needs to embrace innovative policies which ensure that its people eat what they produce and export the surplus.
“Feeding Africa is an imperative. We must ensure that we feed ourselves today, tomorrow, and well into the future. The starting point is to raise agricultural productivity. This requires the access of farmers to quality farm inputs, especially improved seeds, fertilisers, and mechanisation. To succeed, we must strongly support farmers.
President Buhari noted that the future of agriculture in Africa would depend on getting more youths into agriculture by making agriculture attractive to them.
The Nigerian leader requested that the Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts arising from the summit must address ways to improve empowerment of the youth and women in agriculture.
