ADB, others join forces to develop youth scheme in agriculture

The ATASP-1 is financed by AfDB to the tune of USD 170 million.The programme was aimed at creating additional incomes to an increased number of producers and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector in Nigeria by providing about 120,000 jobs along the value chain of priority commodities.An additional 20 million tonnes of key commodity food crops […]

The ATASP-1 is financed by AfDB to the tune of USD 170 million.
The programme was aimed at creating additional incomes to an increased number of producers and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector in Nigeria by providing about 120,000 jobs along the value chain of priority commodities.
An additional 20 million tonnes of key commodity food crops including cassava, rice, and sorghum will be added to the domestic food supply each year.
The Director General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, said: “All over Africa, many young people are migrating to cities in search of business opportunities, leaving behind an increasingly ageing population. The challenge is to create business opportunities for productive activity in agriculture and non-farm enterprises.”
AfDB’s Chief Country Programme Coordinator, Andoh Mensah, explained that the project would capitalise on IITA’s participatory approach and train and retrain young men and women along the commodity value chains.
According to him, the ATASP-1 was part of the bank’s efforts in contributing to the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the government of Nigeria, which aimed to create 3.5 million jobs along key crop value chains.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria Dr Akinwumi Adesina said that “Africa’s future millionaires and billionaires will make their money from agriculture,”adding that the governments would unlock wealth from the soil.
He estimated that the bulk of this new wealthy population will be made up of young people adept at creating jobs for millions in each African country and bringing business opportunities to rural communities in the continent.
The minister enjoined the youth to stop seeing agriculture as a tool for development and view it as a business.