Graduate Agriculture Scheme to promote food security.

The federal government of Nigeria is set to launch a graduate agriculture scheme in 12 River Basins in the country as 50 graduates are expected to be trained per river basin in varied areas of agricultural production. The Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu, disclosed this in Lokoja, during a courtesy visit on Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. He explained that his mission in Kogi state is to launch our programme on Graduate Agriculture Scheme which was initiated by this administration to support the new initiative towards food security and self-sustenance in this country The minister noted that one of the quickest ways to support the policy thrust of agriculture in this administration was to support revitalization of River Basins, an issue which according to him has been discussed exhaustively in various Federal Executive Council meetings. He said the council has come up with the initiative to make agriculture very attractive to teeming unemployed graduates in the country and integrate them into agric businesses. The minister explained that the ministry of water resources had this year taken some practical steps to revive the River Basin by signing Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Songhai farm based in Benin Republic for cross fertilization of ideas on river basin operations. He noted that the historical importance of the state and confluence of rivers Niger and Benue in Lokoja has made it strategic to the economic diversification drive of the present administration. continue