Agricultural scientists in Nigeria will next week converge on Abuja for the sole purpose of initiating ways to boost food security and job creation in the country.
They will also be seeking means of partnering the federal government and major stakeholders in a bid to return farmers to their farms to end the current high cost of foodstuffs.
The National President of Agricultural Society of Nigeria (ASN), Prof Jude Mbanasor disclosed this to newsmen in Umuahia, the, Abia State capital.
Prof Mbanasor said hundreds of Agricultural scientists drawn from all the Universities and research institutes in Nigeria will be in Abuja for the 58th Annual Conference of Agricultural Society of Nigeria.
Prof Mbanasor announced that tens of experts are expected to present quality papers which will explore practical options in ending the current food insecurity in Nigeria.
According to him, two serving vice-chancellors and two former ones will lead the discussion on the fundamental issue while the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Alhaji Abubakar Kyar will deliver the keynote address.
Prof Mbanasor who is a Fellow Agricultural Society of Nigeria and Fellow Agricultural Economist of Nigeria, said the society has identified insecurity and unstable exchange rates as key factors militating against food production and job creation in the Agricultural sector.
He lamented that millions of farmers in the country have been chased out of their farms by bandits, thus worsening the food crisis in the country.
He was of the opinion that if farmers have the right environment and improved seedlings to operate, the sector would create millions of jobs.
” When we have farmers in a conducive environment, employing our rich research findings and of course have access to modern equipment procured under a stable foreign exchange rate, the issue of food crisis will come to an end”, he argued.
He noted that it was in a bid to evolve sustainable solutions to the food crisis that the society will be meeting in Abuja.
According to him, the theme for this year’s conference, ; SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES FOR RENEWED HOPE IN FOOD SECURITY AND JOB CREATION, was carefully chosen to address the matter.
Mbanasor enjoined the media to assist the society put the prevailing issues in the front burner of national attention so as to achieve the desired goal of food security and job creation.