Nigeria Initiates Agricultural Programme for Youth
The programme, designed by the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) is part of the government objective of fostering youth inclusion and participation in farming geared towards achieving modernised agriculture and expansion.
Under the Young Farmers Scheme, NALDA aims to empower 1000 farmers from each of the 774 Local Government Areas each year but would begin with a pilot programme that would empower 100 young farmers from three local governments in 16 states.
According to NALDA, ” The new mandate is to harness the full potentials of the vast arable lands in the country and empower small and large scale farmers.
” The programme would begin operation by land survey, acquisition and parcelling them to farmers, providing subsidy and grant distribution as well as empowering youth and women.”
However, to achieve this, the organisation has included the “Back to Farm Initiative and Agro Input Intervention” which would primarily dwell on creating awareness by organizing seminars and workshops amongst the people and collaborating with Agricultural Development Project, Value Chain Actors, State Ministries of Agriculture and Co-operative bodies respectively.
The National Agricultural Land Development Authority was initially created in 1992 but has been rejuvenated after 20 years of extinction with a new directive to achieve food security.
