Agriculture to give NIgeria 250,000 Jobs by 2015

The Federal Government has said that its transformation agenda in the agriculture sector, especially in the area of livestock value chain, would help to create 250,000 jobs by 2015.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, stated this in Abuja during the Animal Science Association of Nigeria and Nigerian Institute of Animal Science joint Annual General Meeting.

At the meeting, 287 animal scientists were inducted as new corps of the institute. The minister urged Nigerians to invest in the industry as the demands for livestock were on the increase.

He explained that for the country to achieve self-sufficiency in meat and livestock production by 2015, there must be investment in the livestock value chain that would help to promote large scale livestock farming in the five geo-political zones.

He also said the nation needed to attain comparative advantage, upgrade local breeds through selective breeding and artificial insemination, and expand hatcheries capacity to achieve hatching of 25 million day-old chicks per week by 2015.

Punch | Agriculture