NO fewer than 1,520 beneficiaries have been trained, established and supported in various agricultural enterprises under the Youths Agricultural Entrepreneurs Program (YAGEP) in Delta State between 2015 and 2021.
The beneficiaries, of 43 per cent of whom are graduates with Bachelor’s Degree or Higher National Diploma, were established in poultry, crop production, piggery, fish production, agro-processing and agribusiness.
YAGEP is one of the flagship job and wealth creation programmes of the present administration in the state which was inaugurated on August 26, 2015, aimed at creating jobs and wealth for youths.
Chief Job and Wealth Creation Officer in the state, Professor Eric Eboh, disclosed at the Orientation and Farm Enterprise Training (OFET) workshop for the first batch of 145 trainees in cassava production in Asaba that  majority of the beneficiaries engaged in fish production (43%) followed by crop production (27%), poultry (24%), piggery (4%) and others (2%).
Ebo noted that the agricultural programme had contributed significantly to agricultural outputs and overall growth of the agricultural sector in Delta State.
Professor Eboh listed the purpose of the training to include the enrolment and documentation of the new beneficiaries in the 2022 cycle; and position them in farm management and best agricultural practices, among others.
He said that the trainees would be supported with fertiliser, animal feeds, crops, agrochemicals, livestock vaccination and others, depending on the type of farm enterprise as well as money to pay for critical farm labour in land preparation, weeding, animal husbandry and harvesting.
The youths  were trained on best practices in agricultural production, farm enterprises management and agricultural marketing (crop and livestock), farm records and financial accounts, managing risks and uncertainties in agricultural production, among others.
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