Youth Corp Members Can Champion National Agricultural Revolution #MyCorperDiary

This was the must fascinating topic on the bus. I had to contribute a smile and several nods to the discussion.

In my short stay, I realised we have land in abundance. We have human resources in abundance. Many of the corp members were rejected on their initial posting. One, a good friend of mine, is an agricultural engineer who finished top of her class and would love to be a part of such a national Agric Revolution. We have financial resources. If a fraction of a fraction of the national budget for agriculture is redirected successfully, we could end up with world-class, commercial, export-grade farms all over the country.

Not only are these resources available, they are sustainable. Universities churn out graduates yearly. That's thousands of individuals with diverse skills to supervise, administer or participate in.various aspects of the agricultural revolution.

I personally think it would be also honorable for a youth corp member to serve this way and see his/her effort transform Nigeria agricultural landscape. While some go to the classrooms, some should go to farms. There are thousand of trained individuals who would love to see an end to importation of food, reduction of unemployment and increase in economy as a result of export. There are a lot of passionate people who will do it for free. Just like MDG's, HIV/AIDS, NEMA, FRSC gained volunteers. There are potential volunteers for agricultural revolution!

I must not fail to mention the loans and facilities available for Agric based ideas. Nonetheless, these schemes only lead to more and more fragments of what we need. What is a loans of 250,000 Naira in a thousand places? I will explain. It is our agricultural independence broken into unidentifiable pieces and scattered into a thousand places. I look forward to farming communities in every state, with thousands of acres of land for farming, hostels for accommodation, qualified and trained staff and machinery and technology for increased productivity.

I look forward to the return of the pyramids of the north, Cocoa and Rice plantations in the south and Palm plantations in the east. I anticipate maximization of the capabilities of the green portion of our flag and black portion of the coat of arms. I want to see all our agricultural science lessons in reality. And I see youths in khaki championing the course.