AfDB plans boost in agric sector via contest in schools

As part of its goal to see a generational shift in agriculture on the continent, the African Development Bank has taken its ‘Farming is Cool’ initiative to school children in Nigeria.
The Bank has also launched a Junior Art Contest in Nigeria to promote the potential of agriculture among secondary school children.
Africa is hoping to feed itself and to eradicate malnutrition by 2025, but the average age of farmers on the continent is currently 60 years.
The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, will present prizes to the three winners from the month-long contest at the commissioning of the Nigeria office building on January 18, 2018 in Abuja. The winners will receive partial scholarships of N1,000,000, N500,000 and N250,000, as first, second and third place prizes, respectively.
“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 emphasising and promoting it as a viable wealth-creation option,” said Ebrima Faal, Senior Director of the Nigeria Country Department, at the African Development Bank. “It targets youths and children to encourage positive thought and action towards an agricultural revolution.”