Prince Ade Ajayi speaks
Prince Ade Ajayi, the national coordinator and co-founder and Head of Farm Management Co-Operate Farmers International limited, in this interview with OpenLife’s Staff Writer, Ngumah Isaac, explains its commitment to food sufficiency
ABOUT CO-OPERATE FARMERS INTERNATIONAL
Yes, co-operate farmers international is a farm management company /media/agro media company. We manage big farms in Nigeria.
We have been in this process for many years- over 15 years ago.
We have a lot of partners, managing big farms in Nigeria nothing less than 10 hectares,100, hectares,300 hectares,palm trees, maize, crops and animal husbandry. Most especially, we let them know that agriculture is beyond farming especially to the youths of this country.
The essence is to make sure that we have what we call good food security in Nigeria so that Nigeria is self-sufficienthttps://www.vanguardngr.com/ in food production.
FOCUS
As a matter of fact, our focus is on agric business and innovation in agric business.
There is agric health, education, finance and media. Prince Ade Ajayi has published the first farmer magazine in Nigeria called Farmer Digest since 2003.
We are currently running 100 hectares of maize in Kwara state, nothing less than 300,000 birds in Epe.
Agrotaimment is one of the innovations we invented with cooperating farmers for the youths.
FOOD SECURITY IN LAGOS AND NIGERIA
When you talk about food security in Nigeria, I think this government really tries based on the rice revolution and maize revolution policy by containing the power of foreign exchange.
The federal government banned CBN not to release dollars for the importation of those commodities to Nigeria.
Under this rice policy alone, the Nigerian government has invested billions of dollars into rice revolutions.
Kebbi State has nothing less than five mills and they are milling all the rice and not less than 50000 youths have gained employments through the rice chain in Nigeria.
We saw the pyramid in February.
UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA
No matter what anybody tries to say, Agriculture is the only industry that can employ labour,the skilled and unskilled labour.
Agriculture is the solution.
LACK OF INTEREST IN AGRIC BY MOST NIGERIANS
Nigerians don’t want to go into agriculture because they lack information.
FARMERS AND HERDERS CLASH
It can be addressed by changing the narrative. it is for us to have a national discussion on this, nobody should put a sentiment on this, this open grazing cannot continue. We need to look for a way of ranching.
AGRIC ACADEMY
Our academy was born out of covid pandemic, the rules and regulations of social distances, and everything that stops what we call social gatherings.
A lot of conferences that were supposed to happen could not hold.
So, we took all the conferences, training to digital training. And that’s why we own the first Agriculture Academy in Nigeria.
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