The Youth in Agribusiness (YAS) project of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on Friday donated various farm inputs to no fewer than 400 young farmers in Kano State.
The input came as additional support to the participants, who had previously been trained in the value chain of various agricultural commodities, including poultry, horticulture and aquaculture.
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With funding support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nigeria, the items distributed by the project included bags of chicken feed, knapsacks, bags of fertilizer, chicks, planter machines, bags of fish feed, seedling trays, Coco Peat, packs of sweet pepper and tomato seeds, among others.
Speaking at the occasion, the Project Coordinator, Mr. Adebayo Awotodunbo, said the process started with an extensive technical and business training, followed by the support they were given to enable them to either start profitable agribusinesses or scale-up their existing agribusinesses.
Awotodunbo, who represented the Team Lead of YAS, Ms Aline Mugisho, stated, “The motivation for this support is to develop the capacity of the young farmers for them to be able to scale up their production, as well as attract more youths to agriculture.
“The purpose is increased agricultural productivity, better yield, improved livelihoods for the youth, and food security for Nigeria.
“It’s also intended to equip them to contribute to food security in Nigeria.
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“When we started the training, we informed those who were already into agribusiness that we would support them after visiting their farms for verification.
“Our Monitoring and Evaluation team visited their farms and assessed their specific needs. Based on that exercise, they were given the specific things they needed. For those who were new to agriculture, whom we call incubators, we set up hubs for them to ensure experiential learning.
He appealed to the beneficiaries, not to sell or mismanage these items, but rather, use them judiciously.
“Our expectation is that you would deploy these resources appropriately to expand your business and be able to employ or create wealth for more youths.”
The Station Administrator of IITA in Kano, Mr. Rabo Ado, congratulated the youths for being part of the programme, saying, “You have been trained for free, and in addition to that, you received input so that you can start or scale-up your business.
“We hope you will utilize them well and become employers of labour in no distant time.“We will monitor your usage of these items, and we hope you will maximize them. We are aware that in the past, on receiving this kind of support, some people sold the items. That is why we group people into clusters so that no one person can single handedly decide what happens to the items. In each group, we expect that members will insist on the right usage of the items.”
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With a mandate to train 10,000 youths in Kano, Oyo, Ogun and the FCT within three years, the YAS project has since its commencement in 2023, trained over 7,000 youths in the value chains of aquaculture, horticulture, cassava, maize, yam, groundnut and soybean.
Present at the event were the Head of the Institute for Agricultural Research in Kano State, Dr. Alhassan Gabasawa; the Country Representative of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Dr Ignatius Ijantiku; and the Assistant Chief Regulatory Officer, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Kano State, Hajiya Halima Abdulkarim, among others.
