Wednesday 12 March 2014

Agric Minister Announces D'BANJ As Nagropreneur Ambassador, To Establish 'Koko Farm'



The first time popular musician, D’banj got involved with something political was in the buildup to the 2011 election when he was a champion of the Goodluck Jonathan for President campaign. He sang for the president and even interviewed him.


So much has happened since then, including the remorse expressed by former D’banj partner, Don Jazzy, over supporting President Goodluck Jonathan back then.

D’banj however has been named by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture as the brand ambassador of a new initiative by the administration to attract youths to agriculture. The initiative is the Nigerian Agricultural Entrepreneurs (Nagropreneurs) initiative, and according to the minister of agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, it is set to be rolled out soon.

Adesina said that the goal of the programme was to collect roughly 750, 000 young entrepreneurial farmers for the country, who will become the engine in transforming Nigeria’s agriculture in the future.

According to him, activities for the new face of agriculture programme will be rolled out this year.

“I will want D’banj to be the Ambassador for Nagroprenuers and to help communicate this initiative to youths. We want to change the labour component of agriculture; most farmers today are old at an average age of 60 years. We must get the younger people to imbibe agriculture as a business; that is why President Goodluck Jonathan launched a programme called Nigerian Agricultural Entrepreneurs (Nagroprenuers),” he said.

Adesina said the future of the continent was in agriculture and that the future millionaires and billionaires would come from the sector. He also noted that 65 per cent of the arable land that would feed the world of nine billion people by 2050 was not in Asia, Latin America or Europe but in Africa.

Adesina further said that the first beneficiaries of the programme will be young school leavers and graduates. They would be given access to land, mechanise equipment and affordable finance, to enable them to get their business going.

In his remark, D’banj likened the agriculture sector to the music industry, saying that the industry was not seen capable of creating job, wealth and materials for export in the past. He said music was the biggest export commodity of the country after crude oil.

He noted that agriculture is the future and the way forward and tasked the minister on publicity and support for the Nigerian youth to get more involved in agriculture.

“Growing up, I did not see agriculture as viable sector; I have been following the news under the minister and I am proud to be the ambassador to champion this move of youth involvement in agriculture.

“Let the youths be aware that if we don’t focus on agriculture, we may end up dying of hunger; I am volunteering to be an ambassador of agriculture under your leadership as minister.’’

According to a NAN report, D’banj said he was ready to establish a farm which would be known as ‘koko Farm’ which he would use to let the youths know how interesting agriculture can be. He stated that under the initiative, he will be known as the ‘’koko farmer”.

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