Bayer AG Selects Young Leaders to Help Address Global Food Security Challenges

Bayer, a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture, in partnership with Groene Kring (GK) and Fédération des Jeunes Agriculteurs (FJA), has selected 100 bright young minds to participate in the third Youth Ag-Summit, which will take place in Brussels, Belgium from October 9-13, 2017.

Themed “Feeding a Hungry Planet”, this year’s Summit, which is part of Bayer’s Agricultural Education Programme, aims to address the UN Sustainability Goals of ending hunger, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture.

The delegates, aged between 18 and 25, according to the organisation, were selected from 49 countries across the world that includes Nigeria, Kenya, United Kingdom, among others.

Boris Nwachukwu, a medical student of the University of Port-Harcourt who was among the two selected delegates from Nigeria, whose essay focused on feeding a hungry planet by utilizing a human right approach through social justice perspective, in excitement said: “I was in the clinic clerking a client in our facility when I got the selection mail. My spirit went wild but I had to hold my lips from screaming: I dream of a day where no child either from the slums of Ajegunle, Lagos or Favela of Maracana, Brazil will go to bed without having a satisfying nutritive meal”.

Echoing Nwachukwu’s submission, Matthew Oguche, the other selected delegate from Nigeria says: “It gives me great joy to be one of the delegates representing Nigeria and West Africa for the first time at the Youth-Ag summit in Brussels. I look forward to this unique opportunity to gain new perspective and collaborate with other young leaders from around the world as we deliver action on the urgent task of a sustainable and hunger free world”.

In a statement released by Bayer, the delegates, during the summit, would share their diverse experiences and work together to generate innovative, sustainable and actionable solutions to global food security challenges. Across five days, delegates would undertake group projects and participate in industry tours, as well as learning from expert guest speakers. Their mission would be to come up with concrete new ideas which can drive agricultural progress across the globe and be put into practice back home.

“The Youth Ag-Summit aims to give young leaders the opportunity to foster their ideas, share best practices and explore the role of modern agriculture in feeding a hungry planet”, Liam Condon, member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and head of the Crop Science Division, said.

To be considered for participation, prospective delegates were required to submit an essay of 1,500 words on the topic of food insecurity. A total of 1,187 essays from 95 different countries were submitted; all of which were reviewed by a panel of industry experts.

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