government has been a key driver of the renewed focus on agriculture across the country. This strategic plan has, however, entered a new phase as the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase 1 (ATASP-1) was launched by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) recently.
Financed by the AfDB to the tune of $170 million, the ATASP-1 is designed to create some 120,000 jobs along the core value chain of priority commodities, thus providing additional incomes for a larger number of producers and entrepreneurs in the Nigerian agricultural sector. With this new twist, an additional 20 million tons of key commodity food crops including cassava, rice, and sorghum can be added to the domestic food supply each year.
Additionally, the project seeks to promote “IITA Youth Agripreneurs,” who will, in turn, promote agriculture among other young people in their regions via peer education, training, demonstration of agricultural best practices and business skills in value chain development. This element of the project will be largely implemented by the IITA via its Headquarters in Oyo State of Nigeria and other branches in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and DR Congo.
At the launch, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and contender for the presidency of the AfDB, emphasized that “Africa’s future millionaires and billionaires will make their money from agriculture.” He believes the recent concerted efforts by governments to unlock wealth from the soil will be increasingly leveraged by young people who have an eye for entrepreneurship, job creation and rural development. He admonished the youth to see agriculture as big business rather than merely a tool for development.
“Today, major local and international investors are investing in this sector. The number of seed companies alone has risen dramatically and the banks are lending to the sector more than ever before,” he said.
Dr Nteranya Sanginga, Director General of the IITA, emphasizing the need to make agriculture appealing to the youth, said “The challenge is to create business opportunities for productive activity in agriculture and non-farm enterprises. This project aims to build on the youth model developed in IITA to change mindsets of young men and women and gainfully engage them in agriculture.”
The year 2015 has been called a defining year for the ATA given the volatility in the oil industry, which has hitherto been Nigeria’s cash cow. A significant positive effect of this agenda was the reduction of the country’s food import bill by N466 billion ($2.34 billion) which translated into an addition of N780 billion ($3.92 billion) to the economy during the period.
By Emmanuel Iruobe
