Ikole (Ekiti), – An Agriculturist, Mr Olaolu Ajayi, has urged unemployed youths to go into plantain and banana farming, saying it was a good way of earning a living.
Ajayi made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Ikole, Ekiti State.
He said that the benefits of plantain and banana farming were huge, adding that they were in high demand in many tropical countries.
He noted that “there are ready markets for the crops in some agro-processing companies in Nigeria that buy at reasonable prices.
“The cultivation of plantain and banana can get farmers out of poverty.’’
He explained that plantain and banana were long season crops usually grown for more than 12 months and have low labour cost requirement.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
He appealed to government to put in place schemes that would support plantain farming so as to entice youths to embrace its cultivation.
Ajayi also urged government to make disease-free varieties of plantain and banana suckers available to interested farmers.
He stressed the need for youths to show interest in growing the crops and assured that government would support them to succeed. (NAN)