The Director-General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr. Simeon Ehui, has said that youth participation is critical to the future of agriculture and food security, adding that young people remain central to the adoption of emerging agricultural innovations that can enhance productivity and protect the environment.
Ehui, represented by the Deputy Director-General in charge of Partnerships for Delivery, Dr. Tahirou Abdoulaye, spoke in Ibadan on Tuesday at this year’s International Youth Day event, organised by the Youth in Agribusiness Unit in the institute. This year’s edition had the theme, “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond.”
He pointed out that the institute introduced the unit over 10 years ago in recognition of the pivotal role of young people in sustainable agriculture and food security.
He stated, “IITA is a research and development institute, and we realized early enough that supporting young people to scale our technologies and share such innovations with the rest of the world positions them to contribute significantly to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals like No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Climate Action, among others. This is why our program for the youth has grown to become a movement. Now, we have to make other youths across Africa realize that agriculture is profitable and sustainable.
“IITA is really proud of the achievements of the Youth in Agribusiness Unit, in terms of the thousands of youth-led agribusinesses and jobs the unit has supported young people to create. We recognise the youth as one of the drivers of the SDGs and agricultural transformation, knowing that without the youth, the future of agriculture is in jeopardy.”
In her remarks, the Partnership and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, IITA Youth in Agribusiness Unit, Ms. Adetola Adenmosun, noted that the International Youth Day was not only for celebrating young people but also to remind them that they have key roles to play in bringing about the change they would like to see in their communities.
She added, “The Youth in Agribusiness Unit of IITA started with about 20 corps members, but today, thousands of young farmers in several African countries have benefitted from the programmes, and many donor organisations have embraced our model as a viable means of engaging young people in agriculture. This means no idea is too small. Let us, as young people, endeavour to start small and have a plan to grow big. Many big businesses of today started small.”
The programme featured a debate between four teams of corps members who, in pairs, spoke for and against the topics: *“With capacity development and the right support, young women do better than their male counterparts in sustainable agribusiness and achieving the SDGs”* and *“Is supporting the youth to embrace agribusiness a sustainable solution to unemployment and attainment of relevant SDGs?”*
At the end of the competition, the winners and the first and second runners-up received farm inputs in their chosen commodities worth hundreds of thousands of naira.
The General Manager, BATN Foundation, Mr. Oludare Odusanya, who was one of the judges, encouraged young people to explore the vast opportunities in the agricultural sector, whether as entrepreneurs or employees.
Odusanya, who was one of the pioneer members of the unit, added, “On this special day to celebrate young people, I would like to reiterate that there are vast opportunities across agricultural value chains for the youth to play profitably, including production, value addition, logistics, marketing, and branding. It is very profitable to own a farm now, but even without owning a farm, there are opportunities to be tapped and there is money to be made from this important sector.”
Similarly, the Director of Youth Empowerment, African Agriculture Leadership Institute (AALI), Ms. Dolapo Ogunsola, who also served as a judge, charged young people, especially corps members, not to shy away from agriculture, saying it could be a launch pad for their career in either entrepreneurship or paid employment. “Our mandate includes country advisory, youth empowerment, and private sector collaboration to accelerate Africa’s agricultural transformation.”
At the event, some of the young farmers who established their agribusiness enterprises after participating in the IITA Youth in Agribusiness programme emphasized the need for the youth to embrace agribusiness opportunities. They noted that the training, input support, mentoring, and institutional support from IITA helped them to scale up their enterprises.
Photo caption:
R-L: Manager, Partnership and Stakeholder Engagement, IITA Youth in Agribusiness Unit, Ms. Adetola Adenmosun; Deputy Director-General, Partnerships for Delivery, IITA, Dr. Tahirou Abdoulaye; Head, Capacity Development Office, Ms. Zainatou Sore; and the General Manager, BATN Foundation, Mr. Oludare Odusanya; flanked by some participants at the IYD event
