Lagos Food Fair features products from YAS beneficiaries

19 April 2024

The Youth in Agribusiness: Enabling scaling of innovative technologies for sustainable food solutions (YAS) project joined over 130 organizations and businesses for a three-day exhibition and conference at the recent Nigeria Agro Food Fair in Lagos.

IITA Ambassador and Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, at the YAS booth during the exhibition.
IITA Ambassador and Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, at the YAS booth during the exhibition.
During the exhibition, the YAS team showcased various agricultural products produced, processed, and packaged by beneficiaries from their training and established their businesses.

Since its launch in 2023, YAS has trained over 2,700 persons in the value chain of various agricultural commodities, including cassava, yam, aquaculture, groundnut, soybean, maize, and horticultural crops like tomatoes and vegetables.

The Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Wouter Plomp, examining some of the products on display at the YAS booth.
The Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Wouter Plomp, examining some of the products on display at the YAS booth.
The YAS team also engaged with industry stakeholders and guests, who visited the YAS booth for discussions and inquiries. Prominent visitors to the YAS booth included IITA Ambassador and former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Wouter Plomp.

The YAS project team lead, Aline Mugisho, also participated in a panel discussion where she emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in driving industrialization in the agricultural sector. She also gave a presentation on the impacts and achievements of YAS in the last year.

The Netherlands Ambassador flanked by the YAS team and embassy officials.
The Netherlands Ambassador flanked by the YAS team and embassy officials.

Other conference topics included Rethinking the Horticulture Sector; Logistics, Supply Chain Finance, Distribution Models; The Rise of Counterfeit Products: Challenges and Solutions; Food Safety, Traceability and Customer Dialogue; and Cold Chain as a Catalyst and Backbone of Nutrition and Food Security.

The YAS team fielding enquiries from guests who visited the YAS booth.
The YAS team fielding enquiries from guests who visited the YAS booth.
Other exhibitors included Horti Nigeria, Prosper Cashew, Natural Dehydrated Vegetables, Norebo, East West Seed, Greenport, Collab Seed, Kinggle Machinery, Tecnopack, Zhangjiagang United Aviation Machinery, Tech-Long Packaging Machinery, German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and Blue Flags Plastic Products.

Contributed by Babatunde Ajaja