IITA, Nigeria’s Youth Ministry partner to unlock agribusiness opportunities for youth

24 March 2026

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Youth Development has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IITA–CGIAR to launch the Youth in Agribusiness Land Trust Fund (YALTF), a transformative initiative aimed at empowering young Nigerians through agriculture.

The agreement marks a significant step toward addressing one of the most critical barriers facing youth in agriculture – access to land – while creating pathways for skills development, enterprise growth, and employment.

At the core of the initiative is the conversion of 42 youth development centres across Nigeria into agribusiness hubs. These centres will serve as platforms for training, incubation, and enterprise development, enabling young people to engage productively across agricultural value chains.

Through the YALTF framework, participating youth will gain access to land, modern production systems, business development support, and market linkages—creating an enabling environment for sustainable agribusiness development.

Over the next three years, the program with support from the IITA Youth in Agribusiness (IYA) program aims to train six million youth and support the establishment and growth of 500,000 agribusiness enterprises in the country. This scale reflects both the urgency and opportunity of harnessing Nigeria’s youthful population to drive economic growth and food systems transformation.

IITA through the IYA program will provide technical backstopping for the initiative, leveraging its expertise in agricultural research, capacity development, and youth engagement. The institute will support the design and implementation of training program, promote the adoption of climate-smart and market-oriented technologies, and facilitate access to innovation and partnerships.

Speaking at the signing, IITA Director General, Dr Simeon Ehui emphasized the long-term significance of the initiative.

“This partnership represents a bold and practical step toward unlocking the immense potential of Nigeria’s youth in agriculture. By addressing the land access challenge and linking young people to skills, innovation, finance, and markets, we are creating a pathway for sustainable agribusiness development at scale. At IITA, we are committed to ensuring that young people are not only participants in agriculture, but successful entrepreneurs and employers of labour,” Dr Ehui said.

The initiative builds on IITA’s longstanding commitment to youth empowerment through agribusiness under the IYA program, including its work in developing scalable models that integrate skills training, incubation, and enterprise support.

Access to land remains a major constraint for young people seeking to enter agriculture. By structuring land access through a national trust mechanism, YALTF introduces a practical and scalable solution that enables youth to establish and expand agribusiness ventures.

In addition to land, the program adopts a holistic approach, linking young people to inputs, markets, and advisory services, ensuring that participation in agriculture translates into viable and profitable enterprises.

The collaboration reflects a shared commitment between IITA-CGIAR and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to position agriculture as a key driver of youth employment and economic inclusion. It also aligns with broader national and continental priorities to strengthen food systems, enhance resilience, and create jobs for Africa’s growing youth population.

By investing in young people as agripreneurs, the YALTF initiative aims to build a new generation of business leaders capable of transforming agriculture into a modern, competitive, and sustainable sector in Nigeria.

Also speaking, Honorable Minister Ayodele Olawande Wisdom highlighted the government’s vision for youth empowerment through agriculture.

“This initiative is about creating real opportunities for young Nigerians. By transforming our Youth Development Centres into agribusiness hubs, we are providing access to land, skills, and support systems that will enable young people to build viable businesses. Agriculture holds the key to job creation and economic diversification, and our youth must be at the center of that transformation.”

As the initiation phase begins, the Youth in Agribusiness Land Trust Fund is expected to serve as a model for scaling youth-focused agricultural development across Nigeria and beyond.

For IITA-CGIAR, the partnership reinforces its mission to deliver research-for-development solutions that improve livelihoods, enhance food security, address unemployment among youth, and drive inclusive growth across Africa.

Contributed by ’Timilehin Osunde