With the gradual aging of the rural farm population, there is need for the development of coherent policies to attract the youth to agriculture.

Nigeria has an estimated population of 140 million. About 75% of this number resides in the rural areas with agriculture as the main stay of their occupation. In spite of the abundant land and water resources that abound in this area, 80 – 90% of Nigeria poor reside in the rural communities. The dismal performance of the sector has stunted the economic development of the country. Several factors account for this unfortunate state of affairs. This include inconsistent government policies, lack of access to credit, low utilisation of agro-inputs, low adoption of improved agricultural technology, under development of the various value chain and absence of a virile processing and marketing industry.

With the gradual aging of the rural farm population, there is need for the development of coherent policies to attract the youth to agriculture. Luckily the country is blessed with a teeming population of active, knowledgeable and significant number of educated youth to lead this drive. The harnessing of the productive energies of this class of Nigerians will go a long way in repositioning agriculture as the engine room of the Nigerian economy. This will substantially reduce youth un employment, poverty, youth restiveness, crime and other social vices that has be-devilled our communities.

However, the key to the attainment of this objective will involved imparting the necessary skills, knowledge and behavioural changes to enable our youth seized the opportunity provided by this sector. It is for this reason that we present this training and capacity building proposal for your consideration. The proposal involves a program of structured class room presentation, two weeks practical training program in relevant commercial farms, another two weeks internship also in commercial farm to re enforce the learning process. At the end of the internship, trainees shall be provided with financial and material resources to enable them set up their own business. During this phase a post training follow up is provided to ensure that the technical back stopping is provided to assist the trainee solve site specific problem that may arise. We believe that such approach provides the mentoring necessary for the success of this enterprise throughout the challenging period of start up.

Our trainings cover the following areas:

• Livestock Feeds and Feeding
• Herd Health Management
• Aquaculture
• Fruits and Vegetables Production
• Fruits and Vegetable Processing
• Small Holder Dairy Production and Processing
• Bee Keeping and Honey Processing