In a major push to boost youth employment and modernize Nigeria’s agricultural landscape, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have announced the expansion of the AgriHub programme, targeting the empowerment of 30,000 young Nigerians.
The scaled-up initiative aims to equip young people with practical agribusiness skills, deepen rural entrepreneurship, and create sustainable job pathways across the agricultural value chain. The partners say the programme will bridge critical gaps by training youth in modern farming techniques, agro-processing, digital agriculture, and enterprise development.
With agriculture remaining one of Nigeria’s strongest economic pillars, the programme is expected to significantly contribute to rural revitalisation. Both organisations emphasised that empowering young people with market-relevant skills is key to reducing unemployment and unlocking the country’s vast agribusiness potential.
IITA and IFAD noted that the expansion builds on earlier successes recorded through their youth-in-agriculture initiatives, which transformed hundreds of young Nigerians into agripreneurs, farm managers, and agritech innovators. The new phase seeks to multiply those gains at a national scale.
Development experts welcomed the announcement, describing it as a timely intervention to strengthen food security, curb rural-urban migration, and encourage youth participation in sectors traditionally overlooked by younger demographics.
The AgriHub expansion reaffirms IITA and IFAD’s long-standing commitment to building a new generation of skilled agribusiness leaders capable of driving inclusive growth across Nigeria’s food system.
