EMPOWERING THE NEW GENERATION OF AGRIPRENEURS

1. EMPOWERING THE NEW GENERATION OF AGRIPRENEURS Eric Nyikwagh Country representative, YPARD Nigeria August 2019

2. Are you aware of these? The youth of ages 15 to 24 make up more than one billion of the total global population. The majority of them are in the developing world (85%). The estimated population of Nigeria stands at 190 million  More than half of the Nigerian population are under 30 years of age, putting a severe strain on available opportunities Youth unemployment stands at 24% Nigeria has an Annual growth rate of 3.5% Agriculture can contribute substantially in meeting SDGs 2030 Agribusiness can address challenges of food insecurity, unemployment and poverty Empowered youths can mitigate crimes and illegal migration

3. Agripreneurs as change-makers • Agriculture in the country is mostly done by the older population with the average Nigerian farmer being 60 years old. This is due to rural-urban migration in search of non-existent white collar jobs. • Nigeria has substantial and youthful workforce that can be effectively employed in agribusiness and agro-allied sub-sectors. • Agriculture has become more commercialized and has evolved into agribusiness which is a long supply through value chains. • Youth entrepreneurs in agriculture have the potential and capacity ignite innovations • Agripreneurs represent the hope of our dear country

4. Youth unemployment in Nigeria

5. Impact of youth in agribusiness • Agribusiness is one of the critical pathways out of hunger, poverty and unemployment for young people. • Accelerating the involvement of Nigerian youth in agriculture and agri-business will also help meet development goals, like those put forth by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including ending extreme poverty, zero hunger and gender equality.

6. The Big picture on Africa • Attitudes towards entrepreneurship amongst young people are positive in Africa than the majority of the rest of the world. Of the ten (10) countries with the highest numbers of start-ups, five (5) are in Africa (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report 2018). • What does this say about Africa?

7. Ways of engagement with agripreneurs • Link social media to agriculture • Training and capacity development of youths in core farm skills and business processes •  Improve agriculture’s image  by rebuilding youth mindsets  • Strengthen higher education in agriculture • Greater use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) • Empower young people to speak up about needs and challenges     • Facilitate access to land and credit     • Put agribusiness on the school curricula     • Greater public investment in agriculture • Make agriculture more profitable and facilitate access to markets • Financial and managerial commitment through technical and vocational education in agriculture

8. Emerging careers in agribusiness • Precision farming • Artificial Intelligence • Integrated farming • Hydroponics • Irrigation agriculture • Block-chain tech • Crowdfunding • Agro-processing • Extension services • Agro-marketing • Software development • Remote sensing/GIS • Drone tech • Transport/logistics • ICT/media • Agro financing • Agro-tech

9. The role of government: Analysis of Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016-20: • Food as a human right – focusing the policy instruments for agricultural development on the social responsibility of government with respect to food security, social security and equity in the Nigerian society. • Value chain approach – focusing the policy instruments for enterprise development across successive stages of the commodity value chains for the development of crop, livestock and fisheries sub-sectors • Prioritizing crops – focusing policy on achieving improved domestic food security and boosting export earnings requires a measure of prioritization. • Market orientation– focusing policy instruments on stimulating agricultural production on a sustainable basis, and stimulating supply and demand for agricultural produce by facilitating linkages between producers and offtakers, while stabilizing prices

10. Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016-2020 (contd) • Factoring Climate change and Environmental sustainability – focusing policy instruments on the sustainability of the use of natural resources (land and soil, water and ecosystems) with the future generation in mind while increasing agricultural production, marketing, and other human activities in the agricultural sector • Nutrition-sensitive agriculture– focusing policy instruments on addressing the issues of stunting, wasting, underweight and other manifestations of hunger and malnutrition with particular reference to the vulnerable groups, which include children under 5, nursing mothers and persons with chronic illness and disabilities • Agriculture‘s Linkages with Other Sectors– focusing policy instruments on the connected relationship between agriculture and other sectors at federal and state levels, particularly industry, environment, power, energy, works and water sectors

11. successful agripreneurs • Farm Crowdy- OnyekaAkumah • Thrive Agric- UkaEjeh • PS Nutraceutical- Sam Ogbole • JR farms- OlawaleRotimiOpeyemi • Tolulope foods- AinaTolulope • Fourteen farms- Julian Akinremi • Cato foods- AtinukeLebile • Fresh Direct Farms-Angel Adelaja

12. Best practice: IITA IYA model • IITA Youth Agripreneurs is a mentorship program of IITA to train and support youths in establishing agribusiness ventures. They operate in clusters. • The ENABLE YOUTH program is a continent-wide expansion to the IYA initiative. It provides opportunities for underemployed young people, especially in rural areas, giving them the chance to establish innovative agricultural enterprises and improve their agribusiness skills.

13. Best practice: Songhai model • SONGHAI center, in Port Novo is a sustainable center of micro-enterprise which also trains many young Africans. It is considered as a model of best practices for rural development, sustainable development, employment and training of youths, and self-financing of a company. • Train young entrepreneurs who are capable of replicating the Songhai model everywhere, starting mainly in their own community or village • Agribusiness focus on fishery, livestock production, crop production, biogas, food processing and machinery fabrication.

14. Priority needs of agripreneurs • Networking: The need to enhance communication processes and to develop unity and cohesion between those involved in the productive projects was emphasized as a key element if young people are to find their place in agribusiness, taking decisions with youths and resolving conflicts as well as to sharing successful experiences and working methods to achieve best outcomes practical training: Training that involves practical experience contributes to empowerment and increases the chances of maintaining the viability of a farming project in the long term. There is therefore a need to adjust the balance between technical and practical training in the courses on offer. • Mentoring of experience: A mentoring process is a key requirement in the early years of a farming initiative if there is to be a transfer of know-how and new practices and encouragement of young people’s experimentation and innovation throughout the planning and development of the project

15. Identifying challenges • Insufficient access to knowledge, information and education • Limited access to land • Inadequate access to financial services. • Difficulties accessing green jobs • Limited access to markets • Limited involvement in policy dialogue

16. The Way forward • Clearly opportunity exists for directing African youth toward agribusiness to profound societal and economic benefit, and many mechanisms toward this goal are being examined by several research, private sector, development and investment partners

17. Sustainable mechanisms to adapt • Providing opportunities to rural youth that promote innovative agricultural enterprise and agribusiness • Raising agribusiness skill levels and economic opportunities to rural youth • Advancing youth-led agribusiness networks, provide interactive agricultural information service and greater involvement of youths in policy • Raising awareness of gender issues among youth and providing equal opportunity for agribusiness advancement to young women • Improving the practical agribusiness skill sets among future graduates of vocational schools and universities • A new generation of young agro-entrepreneurs is emerging that develop ICT services and applications supporting agricultural activities for access to finance, advisory services, and market information services • Agribusiness incubation hosts provide office, field and workshop space, as well as training and administrative service to interns as they undergo experiential learning and develop their business plans and loan applications. These hosts may include farmer training centers, vocational schools, NGOs, private businesses and the outreach programs of universities and research organizations.

18. YPARD NIGERIA IN BRIEF • YPARD Nigeria has over the last eight years played significant impact by empowering youths through training on different agricultural value-chains, mentorships, internships, conferences and symposiums, contributions to local, national and international agricultural policy and career fairs. 

19. YPARD NIGERIA IN BRIEF(contd) • The YPARD Nigeria team has also ensured the provision of access to capacity building and fund-raising opportunities for members in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and partners in the agricultural sector in Nigeria. • Register at www.ypard.net

20. The future is now “The next billionaires from Africa would emerge from agriculture” President AkinwumiAdesina “Agribusiness is the new currency of the African economy” Dr Richard Munang “The agric industry has the power to change the world” Strive Masiyiwa

21. “Farming is like sculpture. If you just keep at it, you can get quite a lot done” Ruth Asawa

22. YPARD-Young Professionals for Agricultural Development

23. Merci beaucoup Register at www.ypard.net