Netherlands pledges more investment in Nigeria’s agric

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has said that supporting young Nigerians to grow in agriculture is one of the central pillars of its collaboration and cooperation with Nigeria. Speaking at the IITA Youth in Sustainable Agriculture (YAS)’s networking conference for young farmers trained and supported with inputs in Abuja, Mr Foluso Adejoro, Policy Advisor, Food […]

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has said that supporting young Nigerians to grow in agriculture is one of the central pillars of its collaboration and cooperation with Nigeria.
Speaking at the IITA Youth in Sustainable Agriculture (YAS)’s networking conference for young farmers trained and supported with inputs in Abuja, Mr Foluso Adejoro, Policy Advisor, Food Security and Climate, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nigeria, said agriculture holds unique opportunities for Nigerian youth.
“Agriculture is one big sector and we decided that despite the number of young people who are not gainfully employed, we can still work with the same young people to help develop the agriculture space in Nigeria.
“I think in the last few months the ambassador has said that because of the good relationship we have built over the years, we would invest even more in Nigeria’s agricultural sector in the next 5-6 years,” he said.
Ms Aline Mugisho, CEO, IITA Youth in Agribusiness unit and Team Lead, YAS Project, said the project has supported young people to develop over 7,800 businesses from the selected young people who have some level of ideas and they want to start a business, but they really don’t know how to go about it.
“So, we support them in nurturing those ideas until they start a business. So, we build their capacities, business development training, we give them the actual mentorship, so we connect them to mentors who are already doing these businesses.
“They learn by doing, and then eventually they start their own businesses, which we also help them to register with CAC and other services. Most of these young people are running businesses in processing, and so this processing requires some NAFDAC certification, and so we also support them in making sure they meet the standard. And for those who are producing, we make sure they follow good agronomic practices and so on.

“And at the end of the training, we give them what we call a booster pack. So, this one, it’s a pack or a support that we give them in the form of input or material that they can use to be able to start their businesses,” Ms Mugisho said.