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….as FAO supports implementation
By Gabriel Ewepu
ABUJA – As a way to curb Japa Syndrome, criminality, and unemployment among young people, the Federal Government, Friday, hailed the launch of Youth in Agribusiness, YAS, by the Netherlands Government and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, for 10,000 youth in four States to boost food security and Climate-Smart Agriculture in the country.
The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, stated this in a keynote address at the launch of YAS with the theme ‘Enabling Scaling of Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Food Solutions’ by the Netherlands Government and IITA with support from Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, in Abuja.
Shettima said the YAS project will galvanize the massive youth population in the country into agribusiness that would drastically reduce unemployment and crime.
Being represented by the Technical Advisor to the Vice President of Agriculture, Marion Moon, he assured to provide the enabling environment for the YAS project to succeed.
He commended the Kingdom of Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E Wouter Plomp, IITA for the launch of the YAS project in Nigeria to empower 10, 000 agripreneurs, and added that the presidency wants actions and results.
The YAS project is commissioned by the Kingdom of Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, and implemented by IITA in Oyo, Ogun, Kano and Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, and the project’s duration is between December 2022-December 2025.
The YAS project will expose beneficiaries to economic opportunities available along the value chains of yam, cassava, soybean, groundnut, maize, horticulture, aquaculture, and poultry. The Project targets youth aged between 18 and 35, and beneficiaries are going to be rural and urban dwellers.
He said: “We are very excited about the YAS project, and especially that it is mill is building market-driven value chains.
“I want to say a big congratulations in launching this Programme to empower 10,000 Young Agripreneurs.
“If it is political goodwill, from the presidency to the Ministry you can consider this done.
“I would not have left the private sector to join the government if I did not believe in the Renewed Hope agenda, and I look forward to playing my part and realizing and building Nigeria.
“One of our biggest assets is our enormous social capital and a very useful one like that. I think it is strategic to harness this asset with lots of value and address it a key pillar of development, food security.
“So for us as a government, our job is to create an enabling environment so that this can thrive and be able to scale.
“And I can assure you that the office and the presidency at large are ready and committed to work with Iita. And the stakeholders, everything he shared with you is deeply committed to to actualize what he said. So we look forward to working with everybody.
“I would like to encourage us to stay close with the Ministry of Agriculture. They have a lot of amazing things that are coming. I think it is important we drive and work very closely with them.”
Meanwhile, in a goodwill message, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, called for single digit interest rate for farmers and more scientific products to be in the hands of farmers, while recalling how IITA researched farmer inputs helped his agribusiness, and also acknowledged how stakeholders have done well to provide farmers quality, high-yielding, hybrid and right seeds for the sector.
“But we need more of these scientific and technological products in the farmers’ hands so that farmers can be better at what they get in terms of yields,” Obasanjo said.
In a keynote address by the Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Wouter Plomp, the YAS programme would be a three-year initiative inspired by Nigerian tenacity and a sprinkle of Dutch innovation to support 8,000 young agripreneurs.
Plomp also pointed out that agriculture now is all about drones, climate-smart farming, and sustainable technology, and all these will support Nigeria agripreneurs and will place them well in the international market with export of new innovations in agribusiness.
According to him, the YAS project focuses on capacity development, merging Nigeria agricultural practices with Dutch innovations, and there is plan to build bridge between Nigeria rich legacy and modern methodologies, and also working with financial institutions to develop tailor made access to finance for agripreneurs and access global market.
Also in a goodwill message, The Interim Country Director, Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, Koffy Kouacou, represented by the Head, Sub-Office, North-East Nigeria, FAO, Al Hassan Cisse, it is now time to involve the youth in agriculture based on their enormous population and the future of Africa.
Kouacou added that there is the need to transform the food systems in Africa, particularly Nigeria, which the African Food Summit held in Dakar, Senegal focused on why African leaders are to transform food systems by focusing on youths and women, therefore called for synergy between stakeholders to actualize it.
He also added that to make agriculture attractive to the youth and to achieve this the focus should be to create an enabling environment for the youth would be allowed to access land, finance, markets, technology, innovation and knowledge.
He stated that just like the YAS project is jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Embassy of Kingdom of Netherlands, as well as France, “there is need for partnerships to move achieve goals, because everyone has their own expertise that could be brought together to achieve a common goal.”