Now fewer than 30 students drawn from five northern states have been trained, kitted with tablets, tricycles to boost agri-business and exportation in the Country.
An agric firm, Office Chérifien des Phosphates, (OCP Africa) in partnership with the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi under its programme – Empowering African Youths (EMAY) project in Nigeria.
The Company said that the trainees would work as ‘AgriPromoter’ and earn N30,000 monthly stipends for three months which amounts to N2.7million to enable them start their business without difficulty.
Senior Agronomist, OCP Nigeria, Dr. Donald Madukwe, said that, “the African young leaders were trained on good agricultural practices, soil sampling and testing techniques for Empowering African Youth (EMAY) and Agripromoters Project.”
Madukwe said that in addition to the three months stipends, the beneficiaries were also given tricycles, digital tablets for farmer data collection, digital soil laboratory test kits among others.
He said: “OCP is empowering them with the equipment they need to work. Today, we are giving them Android Tablets because this is also a digital drop we have created for them, the tablets will enable them collect farmers’ data, collect reference soil samples from farmers’ fields.
“OCP is also going to support them for the first three months of their activities with stipends before they can be able to start generating revenue from this venture.
“They also have tricycles, each of these young leaders will have these items and the tricycles are to enable them convey their laboratory to various locations as well as convey farm inputs to the various locations which they can make margins for.
“OCP is also prepared to release inputs to them and they can deliver additional margins. They will get nothing less than N30,000 each monthly stipends for three months that will enable them at least fuel the tricycles around and maybe for other emergencies.
They are not being employed, it is just a stipend to support them.”
Also, speaking, the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Prof. Ahmed Fagam, the university signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a university in Morocco called UNCP and another collaboration with OCP Africa which is also a component of that university.
He said that the fertilizer company, based on that MoU organised the one week long training and chosed ATBU as trainers and also chose the Agripromoters and the African Youth Leaders, they are agricultural extension specialists.