Worried by the alarming rate of food insecurity in the country, YouthHubAfrica in partnership with ActionAid has empowered youths across communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with best agricultural practices to mitigate the impact of climate change on the environment.

Addressing stakeholders and beneficiaries of the programme at an event in Abuja, Executive Director, YouthHubAfrica, Rotimi Olawale, urged youth across the country to shun get-rich-quick syndrome and leverage on the opportunities embedded in the agricultural sector.

According to him, the gathering was initiated as a platform for youth and women associations to discuss challenges around supporting agroecology within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and also strengthen the body of knowledge practice for them to know each other as practitioners and to continue to grow and improve on the practices and system of agroecology within the territory.

He further noted that the gathering was put together to encourage a lot of young people to go into food production in a sustainable manner, adding that it will also provide an opportunity to generate employment and for people to also feed themselves and solve poverty problems.

His words: “One of the challenges we have encountered in this project is that a lot of young people do not want to do things. They want easy, quick money. They want something they can do today and make money the next day.

“Agriculture is a process. You have to be determined. It is something you have to do on a daily basis for you to earn an income in it.

“And so we are focusing on those who have already done something that we can improve upon. And that’s one thing.

“The second thing is that the nation is hard. Things are challenging, but if young people put their hands on the ground and work very hard, they will earn an income.

“It might not be immediate. It might not be an instant solution. We are not marketing wonder banks that we can turn your 100,000 to 500,000 in 10 days, but what we know is that if you invest and you practice what you have been taught, there is an opportunity for you to earn sustainable income over time.”

Disclosing that the bodies have successfully trained and equipped over 80 youths across FCT communities in agroecology, Olawale maintained that YouthHubAfrica is currently having conversations with the FCT youth secretariat and the FCT agriculture sector, to see how the training can extend to other young people in the country.

On her part, ActionAid Programme advisor in Nigeria, Blessing Ifemenam, who noted that the gathering was about strengthening the network of actors for promotion of agroecology, stressed the need for Nigeria to ensure the use of climate resilient and sustainable means of farming to mitigate the impact of climate change.