The National Agricultural and Land Development Agency (NALDA) revealed that 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 responsible for soil sample collection and soil tests. They would also render extension services to farmers under the National Young Farmers Scheme established by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2020.
READ ALSO; Nigeria to adopt e-border monitoring, control system
Paul Ikonne, the Executive Secretary of NALDA, made this information known on Monday, 25th of January in Abuja while briefing journalists on the activities of the agency, as reported by Daily Trust.
Mr Paul Ikonne gave a detailed explanation of why it is essential to understand soil requirements as this is important in achieving food security in the country.
Daily Trust quoted Mr Ikonne saying: “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,”
The National Agricultural and Land Development Agency (NALDA) is one of the federal government agencies placed with the responsibility of realizing the full potential of the vast arable land in Nigeria, empowering and equipping smallholder and large-scale farmers, as well as supporting the drive of food security.
Recently, 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 reported that a two weeks intensive training would take place by the agency to train the graduates on soil sampling and soil testing after which the employees will be engaged full time.
Finally, stated that the employment process which has commenced will be done in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science and state governments.
