Nigeria government to empower 30,000 youths in Agriculture

As part of its commitment to promote decent income generation and livelihood for Nigerian Youth, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has commenced the process of empowering about 30,000 youths based on priority value chains, through the Youth Empowerment in Agricultural Programme (YEAP).

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Architect Sunny Echono, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, during a meeting with stakeholders in the Poultry Industry in Abuja.

Echono stated that the ministry received about 34,000 applications from intending Nagropreneurs and Market Oriented Producers from 12 participating states, including the FCT.

He said a total of 250 Nagropreneurs would be selected per state including FCT under the first phase of the project.

“Validation and final selection of the young Nagropreneurs and Market Oriented producers would be done at state levels in collaboration with the ministry’s state directors, while training would be conducted for the beneficiaries at different credible Agricultural and Research Institutions, Universities and other Vocational training centers across Nigeria”, he stated.

The participating states are, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Oyo, Abia, Katsina, Lagos, Niger, and Ogun.