AFRICAN Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina has reminded students at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta that agriculture is the most important profession and business in the world.

“I am delighted to see so many of our young people engaged in agriculture arising from the Youth Employment in Agriculture initiative launched when I was minister to get the youth into agriculture as a business,” Adesina said at the university on Tuesday during its convocation ceremony.

From their innovations in the use of drones, food processing, packaging, transport and logistics and marketing, they are already unlocking the opportunities in agriculture,” he said.

The AfDB president was decorated by the university with the Doctorate of Science in recognition of his works in agriculture and food security in Africa.

He emphasised that youths have an important role to play in the continent’s economic development.

“Agriculture is the most important profession and business in the world,” Adesina said.

Adesina praised the Nigerian government on its continuous effort in targeting agriculture as one of the target industries to be self-sufficient in Nigeria.

He also pledged to continue the work of transforming Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

“The size of food and agriculture in Africa will rise to $1 trillion by 2030. The population of Africa, now at 1.2 billion, will double to 2.5 billion by 2050. They all must eat. And only through food and agribusiness can this be achieved,” he said

Adesina said the African Development Bank was spearheading efforts to feed Africa and was investing $25 billion over a ten-year period to transform the continent’s agriculture sector.

“What Africa does with food will determine the future of food, given that 65 percent of the arable land left to feed the world is here,” Adesina said

Lauding the choice of Adesina as the institution’s 2020 awardee, the Chancellor, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu, described him as a global household name whose exploits in promoting value chain addition in agricultural produce have remained unparalleled.