Commissioner Worries Over Extinction Of Farmers In Oyo

The ageing population of farmers in Oyo State is giving the state government concern, the new Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Daniel Kolade, has said.

Kolade told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Sunday that if corrective steps were not taken, the farmers would soon be endangered species that might become extinct in no time.

“If you look at things around us today, especially in Oyo State, the average age of the practising farmer stands between 60 and 66 years and we have seen that we cannot grow with this.”

Kolade said in order to reverse the trend, the administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi had decided to commence a programme it tagged, “School Agriculture Programme”, aimed at encouraging farming among the youths.

The commissioner said that with the eventual successful implementation of the programme, the government was optimistic that within the next few years, the age of farmers would improve to something between 35 and 40 years.

“We want to make agriculture a good thing for people in the state to be able to practise, especially the young generation.”

He said the government was determined to make the school agriculture programme a success because it was very relevant when one looked at the precarious food situation globally.

Kolade cited Australia and Thailand among others in the world today where floods had destroyed huge farmlands, spelling doom for the countries since the people might not have enough to eat.

“Worldwide, we see food crises, and except the young generation comes into agriculture, it may not sound well for the people of Oyo State and the nation in general.

“So the time to act is now,” he said.

Kolade called on the youths, especially students in the state, to fully embrace the government’s agriculture as the best alternative to oil as well as the only means of survival for the world’s population of seven billion people.