The youths in the state, some of whom are graduates, have been trained and empowered by the IFAD/LIFE-ND Project in cassava, poultry, fishery, and cocoa value chains and vegetables in 10 local government areas of the state.
It was gathered that after completing their training, the youths have established and begun their businesses and have become employers of labour.
Earlier, at a media round table, the State Project Coordinator, Prince Olawale Ademola, explained that the project was sponsored by the IFAD/ LIFE-ND in collaboration with the federal and Ondo State governments in a bid to engage the youths in agriculture for food sufficiency and employment generation.
He said, “This programme started in 2020, and we have trained 2,180 incubates (unemployed youths) in the last three years which is the first phase. Some of them have been empowered with tools to work and are now self-reliant after the training. Before the end of this year, we would have empowered over 2,500 youths.”
During the inspection tour of the business locations of the beneficiaries in the Ondo East Local Government Area of the state, the young farmers said the initiative had been changing their lives for the better by making them entrepreneurs and employers of labour.
Speaking, one of the youth, Oluwatoyin Akintoye, a 33-year-old graduate of computer science, said she was trained in poultry production. She had expanded her scope to the marketing of poultry inputs with the support of the IFAD/LIFE/ND Project.
She said, “The IFAD/LIFE/ND is real in its projects of training young Nigerians in the agricultural sector. During the training, they were giving us a stipend of N12,000 every month for up to nine months, and we were into different agricultural value chains of interest.
“Many in my set fell into the categories of poultry production, processing and marketing, and they were given different inputs, including day-old chicks feeds and medications to start with, but I fell into production but later diversified to the marketing of eggs, feeds, day-old chicks, and poultry equipment.
“It’s so amazing that I have been doing good in the enterprise. The IFAD empowered me with N1.12 million to start with. Being a graduate, looking for a job around is not easy but they have made me engaged with meaningful enterprise.”
Similarly, a fish farmer, Feyisola Fasakin, stated that the project had made him self-employed, explaining that the series of training he received had reshaped his life and that of his entire family.
“The IFAD/LIFE-ND taught me how to save and be focused. They gave me different fishing inputs, such as 1,500 juveniles and a rented pond, to start my fish farming. I have taken it as a career. As I am, I know many places I have been to today. Be on your own, and you will make a good living,” he said.
