One hundred young farmers have been selected by the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) to begin agribusiness training in the tomato value chain under the Youth Entrepreneurship in Tomato Value Chain Project.

The farmers who are between the ages of 25 – 35 years are being incubated at the Oyo State IITA Agribusiness Incubation Park, Awe where they’ll leverage the Park’s facilities to gain the technical knowledge, entrepreneurial training and business skills required to exploit existing and emerging opportunities in the $47 billion global seed business.

OYSADA announced the Youth Entrepreneurship in Tomato Value Chain Project in July 2020 with a “Call for Application” targeted at farmers within the project’s age-range.

Applicant farmers were interviewed at two locations in Aawe and Tede in August 2020 and successful candidates were inducted as the first batch of young farmers to participate in the pilot program.

Full-scale training activity has commenced with planting seeds and nurturing their tomato plants.

The Youth Entrepreneurship in Tomato Value Chain project, under OYSADA’s Youth in Agribusiness Programme, is projected to train and incubate 1500 Oyo State youths in 3 years. They will be empowered with 0.4 acres of land to farm and produce tomato plants.

OYSADA’s Youth in Agribusiness Programme aims to leverage partnerships with development partners, private sector actors and financial agencies to remove the many hurdles youth including women face in trying to earn a livelihood from agriculture and agribusiness.

It is envisaged the Tomato Value Chain Project will lead to the establishment of state-wide seed production enterprises, facilitate job creation and reduce youth unemployment as well as increase availability of and access to quality affordable seed for smallholder farmers which will improve crop productivity and profitability.

The training program is being implemented in partnership with Harvest Field Limited.