The FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF) Programme has started the training of 300 unemployed youths and women in Oyo State to enable them to acquire skills in various agricultural enterprises.
The FADAMA III AF programme made this known in Abuja via a statement by Mr Tunde Oladunjoyelo, the World Bank Media Consultant on FADAMA.
Oladunjoyelo said that the aim of the training, organised under the FADAMA Graduates, Unemployed Youth and Women Support scheme, was to empower unemployed graduate s, youths and women to become self-employed and employers of labour.
Mr Nath Olayinka, the FADAMA Project Coordinator in Oyo State, said that training would run for two weeks at three training centres.
He listed the centres as College of Agriculture, Igboora, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and Institute of Agriculture Research and Training, Moor Plantation, Ibadan.
Speaking, Mr Oyewole Oyewumi, Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture, said that the vision of Gov. Abiola Ajimobi’s administration to create one million jobs via the agricultural sector would be fulfilled with the intervention of the FADAMA III AF project.
He said that the training would empower the beneficiaries to become experts in their chosen agricultural enterprises.
“At the end of the training, each participant is expected to prepare his or her business plan which will be assessed and the best 200 participants will eventually be selected for funding.
“The starter package ranges from N700,000 to N1 million, depending on their enterprises, and the money will be given to them as a grant and not a loan,’’ he said.
Two of the trainees, Mrs Lawal Mariam and Mr Adekanmbi Johnson, commended the Oyo State Government and the FADAMA programme for the scheme.
They pledged that the beneficiaries would use the knowledge they acquired in the training to boost the development of the agricultural sector of the State.
“We also contribute to growth of the national economy in general,” he said.
Prof. James Adeniran, the Executive Director of Institute of Agriculture Research and Training, said that youths and women were the most vulnerable groups in the society.
“However, the future of agricultural development for a diversified economy in Nigeria is in the hands of women and youths,’’ he added.
Adeniran assured the participants that in the course of after training, they would be exposed to standard procedures that would enhance their knowledge and prepare them as future entrepreneurs
He said that their participation in agriculture would upgrade their socio-economic status, while enabling them to contribute more meaningfully to the growth of the nation’s economy and food security.