Youth Agripreneurs program forging ahead to change youth mindsets to agriculture in Africa
On the second day of P4D Week, youth Agripreneurs presented on their various activities.
The presentations were started off by the leader of the Youth Agripreneurs at IITA, Evelyn Ohanwusi. She said the initial vision of the program was to support youth at the individual level by moving incomes from 0 to $700 a month and at the institutional level to create an independent youth agribusiness center. All these have been achieved.
Agripreneurs from all IITA hubs talk about their activities in Africa.
“At the individual level we have been able to prompt a change in youth mindsets towards agriculture. Most of us did not study agriculture but we have seen the opportunities in agriculture. We have seen how we can bring various technologies such as ICT and communication into agriculture. We are also now funding our own activities from our production activities, providing services, and also writing grants. So far we have also raised over $600,000 in Nigeria alone from two projects funded by Chevron Nigeria Ltd. We are also partnering with IITA’s research programs,” she said.
Across Africa, the Agripreneurs group now has 15 groups with about 385 members who are running 36 enterprises as part of experiential learning. These are active and present in seven African countries―DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
Ohanwusi said the youth in agribusiness unit also leads in advocacy, capacity development, and policy dialogue for youth in agribusiness as well as oversee the implementation of the ENABLE Youth program and partner with the Business Incubation Platform (BIP).
Testimonials were given by youth Agripreneurs from all over Nigeria, attesting to how the program has transformed them. Presentations were also made by representatives of the Youth Agripreneurs program in West, East, Central, and Southern Africa. They shared on the various activities and enterprises they were running. The groups were involved in vegetable production, processing and value addition, fish farming as well as provision of services such as weed farming and hiring of equipment.
They also presented on various innovative uses of ICTs that they had developed in agriculture. According to Isuwa Zacheus from Nigeria, the Fished Up app developed by the Abuja IITA Youth Agripreneurs was declared a winner during the 2016 Fish Farming Agrihack West Africa competition.
Beckie Nakabugo from Uganda who presented activities in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania talked about the online food basket platform that the group was pioneering in Uganda. It enabled their clients to order vegetables online from the comfort of their offices.
