Youths dominate benefit-value of 3,000 agripreneur Lagos empowerment

By Moses Adeniyi

The breakdown of the value of benefits for Youths in the Lagos State Agricultural Value Chain Enterprise Activation Programme which saw the empowerment of no less than 3,000 stakeholders in the agricultural value chain, has shown that youths dominates the profile of beneficiaries.

A breakdown of the statistics revealed that 300 of the best students trained in aquaculture and poultry production at the Lagos Entreprenuership programme were empowered with Agricultural assets valued at over N245million, representing about 46.7 per cent of the total project cost of the 2021 Agricultural Value Chain Enterprise Activation Programmes.

Further analysis of the statistics revealed that 680 youths in artisanal fishing communities were empowered with 34 fishing boats, equipped with modern fishing inputs.

According to information gathered from the State’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, efforts directed at the youths were strategic with the view to ensure inclusive approach to engage them in agriculture for application of their strength and productive acumen to drive growth in the sector.

According to her, the State Government has put In place an accountability team in collaboration with financial institutions, to monitor the proper utilisation of the inputs in line with the preference of  business development objectives.

“All these are in addition with the widows of opportunities that will be created for youth engagement as articulated in the Lagos State Agricultural and Food Systems roadmap over the next five years.

“In the long run, it is envisaged that these efforts and many others in the agricultural ecosystem will enable the State transit from being a food consuming state to a major food producing state, especially with regards to fishery, piggery and poultry production as well as the coconut value chain, where the State has a strong and competitive advantage,” she said.

According to report gathered, the 2021 programme centred on three major value chain – poultry, fisheries and piggery – as the subsectors mostly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other emergencies as the African swine fever.

However, other assets were made available for empowerment to aid other value chains, such as the red meat value chain, and the rice value chain, among others.

The range of the empowerment which apart from the youth had women and vulnerable stakeholders cutting across  the value chain, includes tractors, ploughs, fishing boats and gear; harvesters, threshers, destoning machines, de-feathering machines, medication, herbicides, fish juveniles, pig growers, smoking kilns, eggs, and various other implements and input.

The interventions, hence, cut across a wide range of participants in the agricultural value chain, including farmers, processors and merchants of fish, poultry, pigs, as well as rice and other crops.

It was gathered that the implements are to be utilised in farming communities across the agricultural zones of Badagry, Epe and Ikorodu in the State.

The programme which has undergone  metamorphosis over time had its maiden edition flagged off on Thursday 16, October 2014 and records reveal that since then the Government has made about 13,976 people beneficiaries of the programme.

Stressing the focus of the Activation Programme in her remarks at the event of the flag-off of the distribution of the empowerment inputs by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at Ikeja the State Capital, she had said: “Essentially, what we are doing is setting you up in business such that you could also have more people join you to increase the employment for Lagos State.

“This is essentially, as I said earlier, for the beneficiaries to have a transformed mindset around the programme and to see it as another area in which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is delivering on his mandate.

“It is our strong desire to help our serious and committed farmers to nurture their farming activities into viable and mature agricultural enterprises through a deliberate monitoring and control mechanisms.

“The Agricultural Value Chain Enterprise Activation Programme has been designed to provide small holders’ farmers, fishermen, agro-processors and marketers with agricultural inputs and productive assets with the objectives of contributing to inclusive agricultural growth in Lagos State, creating assess to beneficiaries to exit the poverty trap, and reduce the number of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Thus, opening an avenue for marketing of agricultural produce, aiding to provide a social safety net for youth, women and the vulnerable.”

In her words, she submitted that given the interconnection of the effects of  poverty and hunger: “It is therefore imperative that efforts are made by both public and private sectors partners to improve the state of food production, and marketing systems, as it is the key to job creation, livelihood sustenance, poverty alleviation and improved standards of living.

“There is a great need also to engage our youth who comprise about 70 percent of the nation’s population in productive activities, of which agriculture is a low hanging fruit that the Government can use as a lever to achieve this objective.

According to the Commissioner, the intervention in fishery, will make fishing “attractive to the youth who otherwise have not shown much interest in adopting fishing as a profession, as a result of the drudgery associated with it.

“Moreover, our focus on youth is to facilitate the aging fishing men population with vibrant business-minded youth who will significantly improve the productivity of the artisanal fishing sector.

“Lagos State is set for a new dawn, a vivid transformation from not just being a city of aquatic splendor, but becoming a giant hub of agriculture and agri-business in Africa.”

It would be recalled that Nigerian NewsDirect had reported that Governor Sanwo-Olu last Thursday at the flag off of the distribution had said the Agricultural Value Chains Enterprise Activation Programme is a clear demonstration of the commitment of his administration to the development and expansion of the agricultural sector in Lagos State, driven by a “farm to table” model that aligns with the goal of making Lagos a truly 21st century economy.

“This is yet another milestone in fulfilling our electoral promises to the people of Lagos State, with regards to food security, and against the backdrop of our T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda.

“Today, through this Activation Programme, our administration is supporting 3,000 women, youths and vulnerable Lagosians with equipment and agricultural input that will help make a significant difference in the quality and scale of their agricultural practice,” he had said.

Speaking on the goal of the programme, Governor Sanwo-Olu had explained that: “We want to make life easier for our farmers and agriculture workers.

“We want to make it easier for them to clear their land, grow high-quality crops, raise healthy animals, and process their output.

“When they are able to do this successfully, everyone benefits, from producers to consumers. There are clear benefits in terms of health, productivity, employment, and so on.”