News
Champoining the Cause: Youths in Agriculture
Africa as a continent has reported a significant rate in agriculture; Agriculture is one of the sectors on the continents with a reasonably high level of revenue from export activities. Export commodities such as Cocoa, coffee, Timber, cashew and maize are some widely known produce that earn the continent much foreign exchange revenue.
Youths over Africa vehemently complain and protest against lack of unemployment, considering ‘white colour jobs’ and ‘blue colour jobs’ as the only jobs in Africa. Trend in agricultural activity inclusion has focused on rural inhabitants with older folks dominating in many countries across the continent, denoting that the younger folks in these rural areas, together with people from the urban centers are not quite interested in this sector. It is no surprise that even the unemployed who are surrounded with agricultural opportunities refuse to see them, even if they do, they are reluctant or do not take advantage of them.
Most youths, when asked to campaign for agriculture or raise a voice to agriculture will not hesitate to do it, but when asked to engage in farming, they will definitely not hesitate to say no. Same analogy applies to most agricultural students, if you ask them about their ambition, they may mention International Agricultural Scientist, a Researcher, an Agricultural Officer, a Banker or a Government Servant, a handful will dare say they want to be farmers.
Several documentations and reports indicate reasons for lack of interest on the part of the youths in Africa, including the unemployed ones.
The youth has it that, Agriculture takes much time and efforts which doesn’t even guarantee absolute success. The Contemporary youth craves for quick money within the shortest possible time, if possible, without much hardwork, and since agriculture is not a one day business and also involves a lot of hardwork and dedication, they tend to lose interest in it.
Agriculture is perceived by most youths as socially non-prestigious. The graduated youth would rather chase eagerly after ‘white and blue colour jobs’ than to work on a farm. Societal stereotype and perceived inferiority complex of agriculture makes it difficult for even parents to encourage their children, in case they decide to venture into agriculture or farming as a career option.
There is not enough exposure of contemporary youths, especially those at the urban areas to agricultural activities. Since urban areas are industrialized and developed, lands there are usually used for building companies, households and other infrastructures rather than reserved for large scale farming. Family lands which could otherwise be used for farming will rather be sold out to be used for building and other activities. Because youths are concentrated in the urban centers, they get a little or no exposure in the field of agriculture, hence lack the skills and motivation to go into that field.
Agricultural activities seem uncomfortable and unsafe to the youth. People who are dedicated to agriculture are perceived to go through a lot of things, ranging from stress associated with work to unproductivity due to infestations. Youths usually want to look their best and have a comfortable work condition, and because starting to farm involves digging, tilling lands, watering, removing weeds, burning, and maybe encountering snakes, scorpions, and other earth creatures, they would rather remain at home than to join the farming train.
The evolved African educational curricula fail to include material agriculture. Some schools teach agriculture but mostly the soft aspect of it, with a little or no practical session. This generally affects the interest buildup of youths towards the agriculture.
We as African youths have however been continuously sensitized in the past few years about the need to venture into agriculture as a career choice. Several campaigns have been launched by some youth advocates in various countries within Africa to create a sense of inclusion for youths and to change the dominant stereotype and preconceptions towards agriculture as a career choice.
There was pandemonium on Tuesday at the Ibadan outlet of CBEX, a digital trading asset firm, as angry investors stormed the premises in protest, vandalising property and looting valuables.
The unrest, which occurred in the Oyo State capital, was triggered by reports that investors had been unable to access or withdraw funds from their accounts on the platform for several days. Matters escalated when many of them reportedly discovered that their investments had completely vanished.
The protest, initially peaceful, quickly degenerated into violence, resulting in looting and physical assaults on some staff members of the firm. Witnesses say the situation became uncontrollable as emotions flared and the aggrieved investors accused the company of operating a Ponzi scheme.
The affected investors were said to cut across various walks of life, including artisans, traders, and civil servants, all of whom had put their trust—and money—into the digital trading venture.
It took the intervention of security operatives to restore calm and disperse the rampaging crowd. Officers have since cordoned off the building and maintained a presence overnight to forestall further breakdown of law and order.
As of Wednesday morning, normalcy had returned to the area. Vehicular and pedestrian movement has resumed, with business activities gradually picking up.
Authorities are yet to issue an official statement on the matter, but concerned stakeholders are calling for a thorough investigation into the operations of CBEX to protect future investors from similar occurrences.
There was pandemonium on Tuesday at the Ibadan outlet of CBEX, a digital trading asset firm, as angry investors stormed the premises in protest, vandalising property and looting valuables.
The unrest, which occurred in the Oyo State capital, was triggered by reports that investors had been unable to access or withdraw funds from their accounts on the platform for several days. Matters escalated when many of them reportedly discovered that their investments had completely vanished.
The protest, initially peaceful, quickly degenerated into violence, resulting in looting and physical assaults on some staff members of the firm. Witnesses say the situation became uncontrollable as emotions flared and the aggrieved investors accused the company of operating a Ponzi scheme.
The affected investors were said to cut across various walks of life, including artisans, traders, and civil servants, all of whom had put their trust—and money—into the digital trading venture.
It took the intervention of security operatives to restore calm and disperse the rampaging crowd. Officers have since cordoned off the building and maintained a presence overnight to forestall further breakdown of law and order.
As of Wednesday morning, normalcy had returned to the area. Vehicular and pedestrian movement has resumed, with business activities gradually picking up.
Authorities are yet to issue an official statement on the matter, but concerned stakeholders are calling for a thorough investigation into the operations of CBEX to protect future investors from similar occurrences.
China has announced a sharp increase in tariffs on US imports, raising the rate from 34 percent to 84 percent, in response to new American trade measures that came into effect on Wednesday.
The decision, confirmed by China’s finance ministry, will take effect from 12:01 p.m. on Thursday. It follows the imposition of sweeping new US tariffs under President Donald Trump, including a hefty 104 percent duty on certain Chinese goods.
“The tariff escalation against China by the United States simply piles mistakes on top of mistakes and severely infringes on China’s legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry said in a strongly worded statement, warning of “firm and forceful” countermeasures.
Beijing has long opposed the increasing use of tariffs as a tool in trade disputes, and accused Washington of undermining the multilateral rules-based global trading system.
In a related move, China’s commerce ministry also announced it would blacklist six American artificial intelligence companies, including Shield AI Inc. and Sierra Nevada Corporation. The companies were accused of either supplying arms to Taiwan or collaborating with the island on military technology.
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