By Precious Oluwole

In a bid to boost agricultural productivity and empower the next generation of farmers, the Ondo State Government has unveiled plans to train the second batch of youths in modern farming techniques.

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Aiyedatiwa on Agriculture, Mr Wemimo Akinsola made this known during a press conference held at the cocoa hall, Alagbaka Akure, On Tuesday.

Akinsola noted that the initiative aims to enhance food security, create job opportunities, and drive economic growth in the state.

He added that the first batch of youths, comprising of 10 young ladies had earlier been trained in Ogun State between 2nd ofJanuary and 24th of March, stressing that the second batch, a total of 100 youths, comprising of 70 males and 30 females will begin their training on the 1st of April, 2025 in Ogun State.

He said “as you know, we are setting up the senatorial farm and the cluster farming, the whole idea is for the state to be self-sufficient for food and the cluster farming is for us to be able to give things out to people who may not want land, but want produce.

“The whole agenda is to have Ondo State as an agro-primary producers in the next 24 months. So, we need a lot of this training to take place.

“We want our young ones to actually join us so we can bring the state to where it’s supposed to be in agriculture. It starts from the youth and this is why we’re training the youth to actually pick up the mantle of the new sessions in the state”, he concluded.  

Also speaking, the coordinator of the program, Farmer Femi Ilesanmi noted that the training for the young girls was meant to empower women, mostly young ladies.

He said “it’s for them to know that they can actually make it or become somebody by engaging in food production. And the plan that the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture have got for the young people are not only to look for partnership with international organization who is going to train the young people in the modern way of doing vegetable farming.

He stressed that the first batch of trainees that have just returned from Ogun State can now be called professional agronomists because they can take care of the farm from start to finish.

He added that the 100 youths has been picked already from all across the 18 government area of the state. 

According to him, they were picked based on their will, their passion for the enterprise after being screened.

Speaking on behalf of other trained agronomists, Blessing Evhodaghe appreciated Governor Aiyedatiwa for his passion for youth development. She urged the next beneficiaries to focus on their training as there is a reward for every efforts and energy they put in.