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IYA to commence training of youth in Niger Delta

The IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) will commence another training for youth in the Niger-Delta region under the Community Youth in Agribusiness Group (CYAG) project funded by Chevron Nigeria Limited.

The training, which will run from 27 to 31 January in Warri, Delta State, will focus on catfish and cassava production and processing. They will also receive training in entrepreneurship and marketing skills.

About 40 youth have been selected in eight communities in Ijaw and Itsekiri Regional Development Councils (RDCs) as beneficiaries of the training. The trainees are the second batch of beneficiaries in the second phase of the project.

Provision is being made for the construction of cassava and fish processing centers for the youth to operate their businesses in clusters after their training.

The first phase of the project recorded the training of 40 youth who were given ₦360,000 as start-up grants for their businesses in catfish, cassava, and plantain production.

The last phase of training for the last batch of beneficiaries under the project will commence in March with 40 youth being trained in catfish hatching techniques and plantain macropropagation.

The CYAG project was launched in 2016 to train and empower 120 youth across the value chains of cassava, aquaculture, and plantain in eight communities in the Itsekiri and Ijaw axis of Delta State to become productively engaged in agriculture as an income-generating endeavor, thus reducing youth restiveness and unemployment in the State.

So far, out of the 40 beneficiaries trained during the first phase of the project, 34 have businesses running with 86% in aquaculture, 10% in cassava, and 4% in plantain production.