Nigeria’s agric agency to employ 30,000 graduates

The National Agricultural and Land Development Agency (NALDA) says it has received approval from the federal government to employ 30,000 agricultural and other science graduates into the agency.

The recruitment is necessary to train graduates who will be in charge of soil sample collection and soil tests, and will also render extension services to farmers under the National Young Farmers Scheme launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2020.

The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Paul Ikonne, announced this on Monday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the activities of the agency, Daily Trust reported.

Mr Paul Ikonne explained that it is essential to understand soil requirements as this is important in achieving food security in the country.

“We cannot achieve food security without understanding our soil, without getting our farmers to know what the soil requires. Based on that, Mr President has directed and given the approval, under the National Young Farmers Scheme to engage over 30,000 young Nigerians who are graduates and have a background in agriculture or sciences,” Daily Trust quoted Mr Ikonne as saying.

The National Agricultural and Land Development Agency (NALDA) is one of the federal government agencies saddled with the responsibility of harnessing the full potential of the vast arable land in Nigeria, empowering smallholder and large-scale farmers, as well as supporting the drive of food security.

The agency recently launched an initiative called National Young Farmers’ Scheme to engage 1,000 youth in each of the 774 local councils in agriculture.

Mr Ikonne said the agency will train the graduates intensively for two weeks on soil sampling and soil testing after which the employees will be engaged full time.

Mr Ikonne said the process of employment which has commenced, will be done in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science, and state governments.

He said farmers will per N500 per soil sample collected and analysed.