Adeyeye made the call at the 2017 Mike
Omotosho Annual Lecture with theme, `Increased Agricultural Productivity
for Sustainable Economic Growth’, in Abuja on Saturday.
He said that engaging in agriculture was a sure way to ensure nation
building, especially in the currently recession facing the country.
The Ooni expressed concern that deforestation which he said had reached
an alarming rate in the country had resulted in low productivity of
farmers in food production.
The Oba said: ‘’ We abandoned the bedrock of this country and that is why we are where we are today.
“We need proper mind re-orientation and change our focus to agriculture.
“It is for us to come together and redefine how we do things. We should
be exporting agricultural produce because we have huge land mass.
“Agriculture is the largest employment platform and we all must practice it in entirety.
“Our flag has two colours which stand for peace and agriculture. We must go back to our roots to be able to survive.’’
Dr Mike Omotosho, the Convener of the lecture, said the aim of the lecture was to reawaken the spirit of agriculture in people.
Omotosho, also a founder of the Mike Omotosho Foundation, said the
foundation had taken the responsibility of eradicating poverty through
agriculture.
He stressed the need to improve agricultural production to meet both local and export needs of the country.
Omotosho said that the foundation had acquired over 15,000 hectares of
farm land in various states and had cultivated 300 hectares of the
figure to encourage youths in agriculture.
“We have an agriculture academy. A lot of people have known that beyond
being a farmer, you can also engage in other areas of agriculture.
“We intend to come up with a farm known as Niger Palms, that will be the
largest palm plantation in Africa that will employ over 15,000 people,
within the next three to five years,’’ he said.
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