The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and other development partners announced plans on Thursday to expand support for at least 30,000 rural youths through the AgriHub programme. The announcement was made in Abuja during a roundtable meeting themed “Creating Rural Youth Employment Opportunities/Support to Agribusiness Hubs in Nigeria”.
The meeting brought together government agencies, embassies, financiers, private sector players and several development partners who are working to unlock fresh opportunities for young Nigerians across key value chains such as rice, cassava, soybean, tomato, groundnut and sesame. The partners said the programme is designed to boost skills, improve job access and support youth-led agribusinesses.
Speaking to journalists, IFAD Country Director, Dede Ekoue, explained that the programme exceeded expectations during the first phase, both in employability and entrepreneurship. She said, “In the first phase, it surpassed its targets on two tracks. One track is about youth employability, and it achieved more than 100 per cent of the target that was set. The other track, entrepreneurship, which helps youths to set up their business, went beyond the target, up to 150 per cent.”
Ekoue said the pilot phase drew more than 7,000 youths, encouraging partners to plan a wider rollout. She listed the Niger Delta’s nine states, Benue, Enugu and Anambra among the locations to be covered, with plans to further extend the support to the North-East and North-West regions.
AgriHub Nigeria Project Coordinator at IITA, Adesanya Omotomiwa, said lessons from the first phase will help guide the expansion, especially as the next stage is expected to pay more attention to fragile and conflict-affected communities.
He said, “Looking at how we have impacted about 7,200 youths in the first phase, we are hoping to leverage those lessons learnt, place more people in jobs and support about 30 per cent of our beneficiaries to start their own businesses.” He also noted that job placement and follow-up monitoring remain major parts of the programme.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, represented by a Director in the ministry, Mrs Iluromi Adebola, said the initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. He stated, “Government’s presence at this event speaks to a shared commitment in unlocking the tremendous potential of rural youth and transforming Nigeria’s food systems through innovation, skills and enterprise.”
Participants said over 7,000 jobs have already been created through agribusiness hubs in rural and semi-urban areas in the past five years. They described AgriHub, piloted by IFAD and implemented by IITA with additional support from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and the Visa Foundation, as one of the most promising youth-focused agricultural interventions due to its strong results in employability, enterprise creation and market access.
