Agric group trains 4,000 youths yearly on agribusiness in Kwara

A group of young agribusiness experts in Kwara State has encouraged youths especially the unemployed ones to venture into agriculture to be gainfully employed and enrich the nation’s economy.

The organisation, under the aegis of Heart and Capital Limited, which gave the piece of advice at the launch of its new agricultural business project called ‘Eterno’ in Ilorin on Monday, said it trains 4,000 youths, in partnership with tertiary institutions on agribusiness, every year as parts of efforts to promote agriculture among youth in the state.

Speaking at the event, president and co-founder of the organisation, Abdulquawiy Olododo, said ‘Eterno’ is planned to reduce unemployment, improve the economic life of people and promote afforestation through the planting of cashew and other cash crops, using climate change methods.

“We partner with several tertiary institutions. Kwara State University (KWASU) is our first partner. We get to train about 4,000 youths, young farmers every year on opportunities in agribusiness. We are young and we can understand language comprehensible to young adults. Agriculture had gone beyond hoes and cutlasses, farming and waiting for the harvest. A whole value chain exists from planting to processing, marketing and others that our youth should be part of,” he said.

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Olododo said that innovative agricultural startup in cashew investment, called Eterno programme, allows individuals and corporate bodies to have direct access to returns from a cashew plantation over a period of 20 years, using modern technology to build a bridge between the farm and the investors, while ensuring the most efficient products for great returns.

He said that individuals can invest in one unit of cashew tree for as low as N10, 000.

“One thing that sets Eterno apart is the robust return on a one-time investment that spans a period of 20 years. Interestingly, investors will not only start earning returns in the first year, but they will also earn as high as 30 per cent in the first three years.

“On Eterno, investors’ capitals are guaranteed because there are fully insured. What we have done is to digitise the investment through our integrated investment platform, Assetmart, which allows investors to monitor and evaluate their investment at any given time,” he said.

Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Umar Oba Adelodun, said that “As an investor, you are not only earning returns on your investment, you will also be contributing to something bigger by mitigating social and environmental factors affecting Nigeria and the world at large such as unemployment and climate change.”

Adelodun enjoined students, young school leavers, other Nigerian youths and big investors to take advantage of this Eterno investment opportunity to create wealth for themselves.