The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, in collaboration with partners, is set to unveil Agrovest reality TV in Nigeria.

The partners are the Ministry of Agriculture, commodity associations and other agriculture stakeholders.

Agrovest is a multi-national agri-business promotion and facilitation agency with the mandate to package, promote and facilitate agri-business investment opportunities in collaboration with stakeholders and investors.

Chief of Staff to the Senior Special Assistant, HAPA, Salisu Sheriff, who spoke on the sidelines of a stakeholders meeting in Abuja, applauded the unique initiative by the Agrovest reality TV team.

According to him, it is a laudable project.

“The Agrovest reality TV show is a good concept that will help the Nigerian youths embrace agriculture and add value to it; for me, it is a good one, and it is better than sitting down to watch vulnerable things in the media.

“The reason why the office is partnering with Agrovest is because of the passion my principal has for agriculture and the great prospect Nigeria has in agriculture. Nigeria has insurmountable potential in agriculture that we must explore and take advantage of; just as the former president Muhammadu Buhari says, we should produce what we eat and eat what we produce; it does not end there; we can even export it.

“When you look at the Republic of China, it engaged its youths in agriculture and spurred youth interest in technology. That is why they have gone very far; this is what we are trying to do, and we want youths to see agriculture as attractive; we want agriculture to equally look sexy. We will be doing this using the concepts of edutainment- education and entertainment; they should have a new perspective about agriculture and embrace it,’’ he said.

He said the approach was effective, especially in macro farming, where a large expanse of land was not needed to start farming.

According to him, there are certain crops one will grow in one’s compound, which will help to alleviate poverty.

He stressed that the approach would help to alleviate the food insecurity being experienced in the country, reduce the overdependence on the government, and increase the total GDP.

On his part, Chief Executive Officer, Tremma Agro Limited and initiator of the Agrovest reality TV show, Emmanuel Abuhson, said that 37 young Nigerians aged 18 and 40 would be selected from the 36 states in Nigeria.

He said they would be competing for a 60-day period.

“Each of the 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, will have a representative and these representatives will live and work together in teams on various agricultural chores.

“This is where the commodities association comes in; they will be training the participants on various commodities and will also form part of the judges to select who emerges the winner(s) as the case might be.’’

According to him, participants will be required to complete all the duties over the course of the 60 days and the winner will walk away with a N20 million cash reward and other side attractions that will be shortly disclosed.

He commended the support and commitment of the stakeholders, including the Ministry of Agriculture.

Mr Abuhson said that it would be a ‘first of its kind’ TV show that would change the narrative of the Nigerian youths and re-channel their energy into agriculture.

“This will ensure Nigeria becomes globally recognised as a leading agriculture hub,’’ he said.

Presidents of various commodity associations including sesame, wheat, soursop and bamboo were present at the stakeholders meeting.

(NAN)