The Executive Director, Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Dr. Patrick Adebola, has warned that Nigerians are about to witness food scarcity in the country if the youth do not get involved in Agriculture.
The plant scientist while  proffering solution to avert the looming danger.  noted that the hunger, food scarcity or food insufficiency, being experienced in the country, will be a thing of the past if the youths can get involved in agriculture, with their energy and their versatile knowledge of technology; that is the solution to the impending famine,  he said.
The CRIN boss, who was represented by Dr. Rotimi Ipinmoroti, the Head, Tea and Coffee Research of the institute, stated this on Friday, during the 2022 Economy of Francesco (EoF) conference held at the Dominican University, Samonda, Ibadan.
In an interview with CEOAFRICA, the Director said, “this conference centered on how youths can be enticed into embracing agriculture. We have discussed at length with them on how they can get into agriculture and how the government can also come in to promote food security.”
“The population of the youths is about 79 million out of the 211 million of the nation. With the energy in the youths and their versatile knowledge of technology, we believe that Nigeria will get it right and hunger will be a thing of the past if Nigerian youths can take up agriculture.”
The agriculture and soil expert, while explaining that Nigeria has the largest youth population and blessed with vast natural resources, almost free from natural disasters, called for a change of attitude towards agriculture among youths.
The conference with the theme “Promoting Agriculture through Intergenerational Dialogue”, which was organized by Studentate, Dominican Province of St Joseph the worker (Nigeria and Ghana) in collaboration with Student Christian Movement, was tagged “Make it Local”, “Agriculture and Justice”, with the aim of bridging the generational gap between the youths and the veterans, with focus on agriculture.