Grapevine

Pineapple cultivation, export can generate forex – Alabi, CEO, Davidorlah Farms

I am not in a position to blame anybody for anything. People in charge of the affairs of this country know what to do. If they fail to do their job; they are answerable to the people. My job at Davidorlah is to work hard to make Nigeria an exporter of pineapples to other countries of the world. We are not going to stop until this vision is realised. Good enough, there are countries now who are ready to partner with us to achieve this vision. So investment in pineapple cultivation can help address the challenges of unemployment in the country and earn significant foreign exchange for the federal and state governments.

Nigeria’s agricultural potentials are huge. I am not just talking about pineapple here. We have the land, technological know-how, and equipment to make farming the biggest foreign exchange earner for Nigeria. No matter how you look at it, people must eat. We cannot talk about development if we do not have food security. But first, we must approach agriculture as a business. We should not see it as something young people cannot get into.

You’ve indicated an interest in attracting 50,000 youths to pineapple farming. Will the selection of these youths be a nationwide exercise?

It is a nationwide exercise but I must add that it’s all about interest. If you check our farms or google us on the internet, you will discover that you have different names who own a portion of the Davidollar Pineapple Farm Estate. And it is not about one language, it is about Nigeria. Once you have an interest, it does not matter whether you are Hausa, Yoruba, or Igbo. As soon as Davidorlah puts out the enrollment page where people can sign in to be trained to become farmers in Davidollar Pineapple Farm Estate, what matters is your interest. This is a great opportunity for the young ones. It is time to stop complaining. Complaints about the government not doing anything will not help us solve any problem. As a Nigerian, what are you doing? Just do your own because when you do your own, we will have a better Nigeria. I am not saying that the government is working. All I am saying is that we should shift our attention away from what is not working to what is working for us.

The money you keep in the house may employ 5,000, it may employ 2,000. Let’s assume that you have 10 acres now, I won’t be the one to be doing the work, we need people to do it. So definitely your money will employ people to do your business for you. And this is what we are operating on and I believe that it is achievable.