Source: Eagleee http://eagleee.com/detail?newsId=532120

The Africa Development Bank has launched a Junior Art Contest in the country to promote the potential of agriculture to secondary school children. President of the Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, presented prizes to the three winners from the month-long contest at the commissioning of the Nigeria office building of the Bank in Abuja. The winners received partial scholarships of 1,000,000 Naira, 500,000 Naira and 250,000 Naira as first, second and third place prizes, respectively.

Speaking at the event, Senior Director of the Nigeria Country Department at the Bank, Ebrima Faal said: “The art competition was conducted to sow a seed of awareness in young minds of the significance and potential of agriculture in the development of a nation’s economy.

“The Farming is Cool campaign strives to flip the script on farming as a last resort by emphasizing and promoting it as a viable wealth-creation option. It targets youth and children to encourage positive thought and action towards an agricultural revolution,” he added.

AfDB is accelerating agricultural development through its ‘Feed Africa Strategy with planned investment of US $24 billion over the next 10 years. The goals of the strategy are to help eliminate extreme poverty in Africa by 2025; end hunger and malnutrition in Africa by 2025; make Africa a net food exporter, and move Africa to the top of export-orientated global value chains where it has comparative advantage.

The strategy includes agricultural finance models that will benefit youth, as well as other groups. It will rely on the ‘jobs for youth in Africa strategy’ to increase the representation of youth in agriculture and agribusiness and equip them with the necessary skills to be successful.

Read more about the new AfDB building in Abuja - http://eagleee.com/detail?newsId=532120

I have friends who raise poultry as their family business and they seem to be doing well. Would you encourage your child to go into agriculture?