AFDB, IITA, Nigeria and others partner to finance youth agricultural business

Senator. Heinekan Lokpobiri

Effort towards ensuring food security using the ingenuity of the youths garnered momentum as African Development Bank (AFDB) has concluded arrangement to inject a total of 12.5 billion dollar to supporting younger ones going into agricultural business.

In a fine tuning workshop organized at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja where prospect countries and youths across the African continent under the IITA youth in agriculture (agripreneur) gathered to brainstorm for the way forward to better utilization of the fund availability towards achieving food security and empowerment contents of the loan objectives as perceived by AFDB was the President of AFDB, Dr. AkinwunmiAdesina unveiled the plan saying each participating countries would leverage 0.5 billion dollar as counterpart funding.

The loan project is anchoring on the IITA youth agricpreneur of incubator strategies of competent skill training in a very holistic manner of taking agriculture as business venture from production, processing, marketing and value addition with best global standard practice with packaging.

Many critical issue hindering agricultural development were observed and deliberated upon for the purpose of effectiveness of the loan injection towards achieving its intended purposes in all the participating countries of Africa with the minister of state Agric Nigeria Senator. Heinekan Lokpobiri saying during the press briefing that policy summersault would not marr the sector this time around stressed that access to finance agriculture was very challenging in Africa cum international policy that we must stand up against towards rescuing our economic future.

The strong voices of the youths present gave a sounding assurance that the money would not be a waste as they are ready to upscale the economic responsibility for the entire African continent with continuous support from the governments in terms of right legislation to effective policy without any summersault of 18 months training for each youths.

Among the countries participating are Benin Republic, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote-Viore, DRC, Ghana, Bussua, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Mauritania, Moroco, Mazambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, serra-leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.