The ENABLE-TAAT project in Uganda is creating job opportunities for youth in the agricultural sector by providing access to innovative agricultural technologies, capacity building, and entrepreneurial skills. The project boosts the productivity and profitability of Ugandan agripreneurs across value chains such as maize, cassava, aquaculture, and livestock using an Agribusiness Park model. The Agribusiness Park model engages youth in hands-on farming, processing, storage, and marketing training. This practical experience ensures they build sustainable careers while significantly contributing to Uganda’s food security and economic development. The impact of the agribusiness parks is already evident, as demonstrated by a successful first harvest across the operation clusters. In the maize cluster in Sendusu, youth agripreneurs cultivated 3 acres of land and produced an impressive 4 tons of maize. Similarly, at the Improved High Biomass (IHB) Agribusiness Park, they harvested 2 tons of IHB from the same acreage. The horticulture cluster has also successfully […]

The popular phrase, “When life throws lemons at you, make lemonade,” accurately captures Azeezat Olayinka Olatunji’s remarkable transition from an aspiring medical doctor to a successful full-time farmer. Apart from owning a flourishing farm in her native Oyo State, she oversees a large agricultural enterprise, including a banana plantation of about nine acres, in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. Raised by parents and grandparents who were proud farmers, young Azeezat said she often protested anytime her father summoned her to follow him to the farm. Not only did she despise farming at the time, but she also could not see any compelling correlation between her dream career—medicine—and farming. Little did she know that the farming she once despised would eventually become her greatest passion. She said that when she applied for admission to study medicine at the university, the institution offered her Animal Production, which she rejected. However, with her father’s […]

As the world recently marked the International Day of Rural Women, I took some moments to reflect on the plight and prospects of women in Nigeria’s rural communities. Nigeria boasts hardworking women across all sectors, from the North to the South, whether in the city or rural hinterland. Indeed, in some communities, women’s involvement in agriculture, whether in production or value addition, has helped to ensure food availability and improved families’ well-being. However, before I delve into the prospects, I would like to take a brief look at the solvable challenges faced by rural women, who, till today, contend with cultural limitations and other perennial challenges, like poor access to quality healthcare, sexual and gender-based violence, barbaric practices like female genital mutilation, and lack of basic amenities like good roads, power supply, and potable water. While life is generally harsher for people in Nigeria’s rural communities, I empathize more with […]