The Federal Government has launched the Youth in Agribusiness Land Trust Fund in Abuja, a new initiative to turn idle land at youth centres nationwide into agribusiness hubs and tackle unemployment, food insecurity and youth unemployment.
Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, said the program “opens a new door” for young Nigerians by solving the single biggest barrier to farming: land access.
“Today is about creating opportunities, job creation, food security and economic growth,” Olawande said at the launch. “The problem is not the young people in Nigeria… The problem is access to opportunity, access to support.”
6 million youth, 500,000 businesses targeted
Olawande said the ministry reviewed all youth development centres and their land assets a year ago and decided “it is time to discover ourselves.” The Trust Fund will convert those centres into active agricultural hubs and provide more than land.
“We want to transform all youth development centres into active agricultural hubs. We want to train more than 6 million Nigerian youths in the next three years. We want to support at least 500,000 youth-led agribusinesses,” he said.
Beneficiaries will get training, modern farming technology, mentorship, business support and access to local and international markets. Olawande stressed that “agriculture is no longer just about farming. It includes technology, processing, packaging, marketing, exports, innovation and all the business opportunities across the value chain.”
Land reform + private capital, ministers say
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, said resolving land disputes is critical to the Tinubu administration’s “Renewed Hope Agenda.”
“Whenever you meet youth in agriculture, the major item they first identify is a land issue,” Bagudu said, noting that court cases and communal clashes have turned land into a source of conflict instead of opportunity.
He cited the Netherlands and Bangladesh as models: the Netherlands, smaller than some Nigerian states, exports €130 billion in agri-produce yearly, while Bangladesh feeds 170 million people from 147,000 sq km. “If our South-South states focus on competing with the Netherlands, they have the geography, they have the climatic conditions,” he said.
Bagudu added that Tinubu’s macroeconomic reforms have “solved the financing problem” by unlocking private capital. “We don’t need budget. We need tens, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we can mobilize it. The challenge for young people is to organize themselves and take advantage of agribusiness potential.”
He urged a “whole-of-federation approach” since land is on the states’ constitutional list. The federal government is building a “Renewed Hope Development Plan” to map economic opportunities and land issues in all 8,809 wards, and he called on NYSC corps members to help collect the data.
IITA backs AgriHub model
Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Dr. Simeon Ehui, said the Trust Fund’s strength is its integrated “AgriHub” model. “Access to land alone is not enough. Young people also need technology, inputs, mechanization, finance, mentorship and markets,” Ehui said.
“Unlocking the Past, Unlocking the Future” captures a simple truth: when young people gain access to productive assets, enterprises grow. And when enterprises grow, nations prosper,” he added. IITA pledged to provide science, innovation and knowledge to accompany land access.
Partnerships drive rollout
Olawande said the ministry is “not waiting for budget” and is leaning on partnerships with IITA, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Afrexim Bank, First Bank and FAO. He also called on state governors and the private sector to expand the program: “Land alone is not enough… State governments have a lot of room to play because they are the key partners.”
Representatives of the Kaduna State, Kano and Edo states Governments also attended the launch as ten youths entrepreneurs benefited from N10 million donated by the ministry of Youth Development in partnership with stakeholders.
