ATASP-1 set to begin nationwide training of youth on seed production
The Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program, Phase One (ATASP-1) has concluded plans to train over 200,000 youth nationwide on seed production, processing, and packaging.
Cross section of participants brainstorming on issues during the meeting.
This decision was reached during a strategic meeting held in Abuja to discuss the process of implementation. Speaking after the meeting, the ATASP-1 Outreach Program Coordinator, Gbassey Tarawali explained that the training has huge potentials to “create employment and wealth across the value chains of the three ATASP-1 mandate crops―rice, cassava, and sorghum.”
The National Coordinator of ATASP-1, Haruna Akwashiki, stated that the training would commence in February and would be conducted in three locations―ICRISAT Kano, NCRI Badeggi, and IITA Kubwa-Abuja. Akwashiki explained that the program was aimed at “closing the demand gap in seed production in Nigeria.”
The Technical Consultant to the program, O. Oyebanji, lauded the idea of “creating youth seed entrepreneurs, as it will reduce youth unemployment and the seed deficit in Nigeria.”
ATASP-1, which is a five-year program being implemented in the seven states of Kano, Jigawa, Enugu, Anambra, Niger, Kebbi, and Sokoto, aims “to contribute to employment generation and shared wealth creation along the commodity value chains (cassava, rice, and sorghum), as well as food and nutrition security.”
