Agriculture

Minister Sponsors Training 20 Young Farmers In Oyo

Published

5 years ago

September 27, 2020

Joel Ajayi

In a bid to eradicate poverty and ensure food security in Oyo state, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare under the supervision of the National Directorate of Employment NDE has commenced the training of 20 Youth in Agriculture in a bid to expose them to various agricultural techniques.

This is in line with the charge of Mr. President to encourage and support the youth to take to agriculture.

The flag-off of the 3-month training took place at the Oyo East local government Secretariat with young men and women in attendance.

In a message sent by the Minister on the first day of the 90 days training, he said

“The agricultural sector is a key-value chain of the economy, which will make the beneficiaries to be productive to themselves and the society in general. This programme is meant to build young farmers, make everyone self-reliant and provide food security in the state.

The beneficiaries were selected from the 33 local government areas in Oyo state. The participants will be trained on various aspects of agriculture such as crop production, fishery, palm oil processing and livestock. After the training, each participant shall receive farm tools to support them to turning the training into practice.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Matthew a beneficiary said “Great honour to the Minister, Mr Sunday Dare for this great plan to empower unemployed people in the State to be self-employed in the agricultural sector.

Another beneficiary, Mr. Atolagbe from Oyo west local government said ”

I’m elated to be a part of this program and I thank our Minister, for the opportunity.

NDE coordinator of the programme in the Oyo State office of NDE, Mr. Adedoja Kabir called on people to embrace agriculture in order to ensure food sufficiency in the state. He confirmed that the Youth were personally sponsored by the Minister of Youth and Sports for the Scheme.

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Agriculture

IWMI: Promoting affordable irrigation technologies for smallholder farmers

Published

1 week ago

October 21, 2025

The Gleamer

Mariam Sanni

Smallholder farmers are challenged with erratic rainfall leading to drought spells, crop water stress and eventually reduced growth and yield penalties

Water insecurity is the major risk to smallholder farmers and a major driver for low investments in agricultural innovations

Even when water resources are sustainably available, smallholder farmers are unable to invest in irrigation equipment due to high upfront costs.

Smallholder farmers have limited access to loans and credit facilities even though irrigation usually is a profitable investment.

Promoting affordable irrigation for smallholders involves increasing access to low-cost technologies like drip and sprinkler kits and solar pumps, and supporting them with financial tools like subsidies and credit.

Also the Farmer-Led Irrigation Development (FLID) has helped farmers to independently invest in, manage and maintain irrigation equipment, adapting technologies to local needs without relying on large-scale projects, reduces farmers’ reliance on erratic rainfall and leads to increased farm investments (good seed, fertilizers, etc.)

Farmers move from 1 rain-fed crop, to multiple harvests per year, boosting yields, income, and food security

Nigeria and other countries have high potential for solar-based irrigation, irrespective of the type of water resources.

As part of efforts to boost local capacity to produce and maintain simple, low-cost irrigation, International Water Management Institute, IWMI through multi- stakeholder dialogues, policy support is partnering with stakeholders created an enabling environment for inclusive and sustainable irrigation development .

The Researcher , Agricultural Water Solution, IWMI Dr Adebayo Oke during his presentation at the International Conference on Climate Change and Just Energy Transition 2025, highlighted that the institute has foster SMEs’ inclusive scaling of bundled irrigation solutions through inclusive business model development and strategic partnerships

The Conference which was theme: Sustainable Clinate Resilience and Just Energy Transition in Africa: A Collaborative Pathway through Policy, Capacity Building, Research and Inclusion was held in Abuja.

He added that its has deployed an impact accelerator program to develop new bundled solutions and SME collaborations that address multiple value chains

According him, IWMI has attracted sustainable finance investments in SMEs to fast-track the adoption of bundled water solutions by smallholder farmers.

Speaking on experience in Nigeria: scaling solar irrigation solutions –Solar scaling pathway studies (Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi) has stratifying the smallholder farmers using the Discrete Choice Experiment.

He mentioned bundling of irrigation technology and financial services to determine scaling pathway/different financing models.

Dr Oke added they also developed a credit facility to enable the scaling of SPI.

Furthermore, he stated IWMI-West & Central Africa Priorities for 2024-2030 as building resilient agric food system against climate change , leveraging water for resilience in fragile and conflict affected settings, enabling circular water and food economy innovations, supporting water infrastructure and allocation decisions among others .

The Country Director , Ghana and Regional Representatives for West and Central Africa, Professor Kehinde Ogunjobi in an interview with newsmen at the event highlighted the importance of evidence-based data for farmers, aquaculture, and environmental ministries.

He said that there is need to raise awareness and emphasized the importance of government support for research and developmental projects on climate change and its impact on agriculture, livelihood, and other sectors.

Professor Ogunjobi has implored government to build capacity of people working in the field of climate change and capacitate farmers to turn evidence-based data into reality.

He encouraged the government to do more to support research and address the impact of climate change, which is more evident in the West African region compared to developed countries.

He urged stakeholders to collaborate with the government and institutions like IWMI Ghana to improve the impact of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and improve the livelihood of people in the region.

He noted the political shift in the US, with the previous administration no longer supporting climate change initiatives, emphasizing the need for Africa to look inward.

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