Nigeria’s
pop music star, D’Banj, has said that he is considering delving into
full scale farming to help fight poverty and encourage many African
youths to embrace agriculture as a means of livelihood.
He was also made the organisation’s face of 2014 Year of Agriculture Campaign as declared by the Africa Union.
“As
a face of the ONE Organisation’s initiative to drive full participation
in agriculture, I have to live by example. I am going to engage in
agriculture personally to encourage millions of African youths who look
up to me as a role model. I need to let them know that unlike the old
stereotype of farming which was considered a punishment, modern farming
on the contrary, is a cool source of employment for many graduates,”
said D’Banj.
According to him, there should be a change where many
youths are expected to embrace agriculture and see it as a potentially
high-yielding venture to tackle hunger and poverty on the continent.
“Agriculture
is life and it is everything that we live for. It is the only way
forward for us in Africa. There are many potentials we are missing out
and if we could focus on it, the continent can actually feed the rest of
the world,” he said.
D’Banj noted that he once tried in his own
little way to tackle hunger by going into Koko Gari project not really
on a large scale. But now that he is working with ONE Organisation and
has been exposed to the potentials in agriculture, he is ready to get
involved deeply.
Also speaking at the launch of the campaign,
Camerounian-born Nde Ndifonka, Media Manager, Africa, ONE Organisation,
said the organisation is keen on pushing the continent’s leaders to stop
paying lip service to the funding of agriculture.
He noted that
after 10 years of AU’s affirmation that African countries should devote
at least 10 percent of the annual budget to agriculture, only three
countries-Ghana, Burkina Faso and Benin have met the target.
Ndifonka
said there should be change in paradigm and ONE is championing a
petition to force the leaders to increase their funding and help tackle
poverty and hunger on the continent.
He disclosed that D’Banj will
lead the campaign, sign the petition and get other celebrities across
Africa to sign for onward delivery to the leaders at their AU Summit
coming up in June.
Source: PM News
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