*To train, empower 100,000 Africans on insect value chain
By Adeyinka Adeniran
Agricultural Social Entrepreneurship Foundation (ASEF International) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with New Generation Nutrition (Netherlands) and FIDAS Africa on training of Africans on insect farming.
The MoU signing ceremony was conducted at the Business Incubation Platform Office of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on Thursday, 30 May 2024. The objective of the MoU is to make the training on Black Soldier Fly accessible to youths and women in Africa.
Speaking during the ceremony, the CEO of FIDAS Africa, Omolola Oludare stated that the training is targeted towards 100,000 Africans with 40,000 slots reserved for Nigerians. She further mentioned that the platform will also train 100 specialist/ experts in the value chain to be deployed for gainful employment across Africa. Omolola expressed that it is the desire of FIDAS Africa to promote agriculture and food security in Africa.
The CEO of ASEF, Rosemary Adebayo, said the role of ASEF is to promote agricultural development and contribute to food security in Africa. She stated that ASEF will be providing 90 percent subsidy to the training, thus making more Africans access the program.
Omoyeni furthered that training in other African countries are scheduled to commence in the second half of 2024, adding that they have reached out to 9,000 religious outfits, all governors in Nigeria, relevant ministries and financial institutions to get support for Nigerian youths and women so they can also access the training. She implored Nigerians looking to explore new and less risky agricultural venture to start looking into insect farming.
Talking about the project Waste4meal during the ceremony, the visionary and representative of the waste4meal project, Azeez Saheed mentioned that the project waste4meal is designed to combine waste management, climate action, food security and agricultural real estate in a single project.
He noted that the project is a novel as it will reduce the countries dependencies on importation of animal feed and support local feed mills in sourcing of animal protein in the feed milling. He stated that the project will create about 100,000 jobs across multiple countries in Africa, with 40,000 direct jobs created across 28 states in Nigeria and 160,000 indirect jobs created along the value chain over a period of 5 to 7 years.
Oluwole encouraged youths and women to embrace this opportunity and enrol for the training with FIDAS Africa, as the participants will also be supported towards establishing their own farms and becoming a member of a cluster.
He added that all trained persons will be formed into clusters within their respective states and be supported towards access to technology, support and finance by the consortium of 16 companies coming together to promote the project.
The Nigerian representative of NGN, Mr John Amole, expressed joy and enthusiasm regarding project waste4meal and the impact the project is set to have across Africa.
Amole, who conducted the first training cohort mentioned that it was a great delight to see that a project as Waste4meal emerged from the cohort earlier conducted in IITA.
At the event was Dr Adebola Ajiboye from the University of Ibadan, being one of the pioneers in Nigeria on Black Soldier fly farming research. Adebola says the project is timely and should be encouraged as he congratulated the parties to the MoU and expressed happiness regarding the project.
The Founder and CEO of NGN, Marian Peters who was present from the Netherlands mentioned the geographical advantage of sub-Saharan Africa in maximizing the insect value chain.
Marian stated of the insect farming value chain in climate actions, waste management and food security, with over 30 years of experience, Marian and NGN have provided support for companies in several countries in Africa, and are looking towards helping Nigerians explore the insect value chain for live stock feed production. NGN has sponsored the training of the first cohorts of insect farmers in IITA starting last quarter of 2023 and more persons will be trained over the course of the year.
Marian also mentioned the strong relationship already established with the University of Ibadan regarding insect farming and training and the opportunities available for youths to engage in a relatively less risky agricultural venture.
The Guest of honour at the event, The Director General of Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency, OYSADA and the CEO of BIP, Dr Debo Akande, representEd by Mr Wole Oladokun, congratulated the parties to the MoU and promises to provide necessary support towards the success of the project and benefits of Nigerians.
