Date: 2017-12-18

Mr Bamidele Adegoke, Kwara State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, says the state government is planning to employ 10,000 youths through its agricultural empowerment scheme designed to boost agriculture.

Adegoke said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on Friday.

He said the state government had already keyed into the Federal Government's agricultural programme, which was introduced to bolster youth empowerment and transform agriculture from subsistence farming to commercial farming.

He said that the programme was the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS), which was introduced for citizens with ages between 18 and 35 years.

"We have been able to meet all necessary conditions.

"The CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme is also part of the programme.

"So, for us in Kwara, I think we are working with the Federal Government to achieve plans for the country's agricultural growth through sound policies.

"Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara has declared that as a matter of priority, Kwara, as an agrarian state, must position itself right," he said.

Adegoke noted that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had constituted a technical team to liaise with some Chinese manufacturers of agricultural machineries on the kinds of equipment that would be suitable for the AADS project.

"We want to ascertain the equipment that would be okay for our own terrain but up till now, there are still some hitches.

"We are hoping that very soon, everything will scale through,"he said.

NAN