Agriculture is once seen as outdated, unprofitable, hard work and laborious; it is now a dynamic sector, offering a multitude of opportunities for entrepreneurship along the entire agribusiness value chain.

1. AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN:
FERTILE GROUND FOR YOUTH
ENTERPRENEURS
Being a Lecture Delivered at the
International Association of Research
Scholars and Fellows (IARSAF) Annual
Symposium
On 23rd March, 2015

2. The Facts: Rate of Unemployment in Nigeria
Figures in 000’000
Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2012
2008 2009 2011 2012
Labour Force 61.19 63.14 65.17 67.25
Employed 52.07 50.7 51.22 51.18
Unemployed 9.12 12.44 13.95 16.07
Irony: Nigeria expends between ₦1.5trillion- ₦ 2.3tillion annually on food importation
in the midst of this glaring unemployment rate.

3. Agriculture is once seen as outdated, unprofitable, hard work and laborious; it is now
a dynamic sector, offering a multitude of opportunities for entrepreneurship along the
entire agribusiness value chain.

4. FARMING IS NOT JUST FOR FOOD SECURITY BUT FOR LIVELIHOOD-
BUISNESS NOT HOBBY

5. KEY IDEAS OF CASE MODEL
Market First: Produce what you have already sold, not the
other way round; start from the market and work backward.
It does not only capture one actor (producers) but all the actors
within the cluster hence Agricultural Systems.
Coordination and Competition: Without the strong ability of
‘coordinating together’ and competing with others within and
outside the clusters’ small scale agribusiness soon lose out and
get out of business. Why?
Farming is real business but most small scale farmers don’t
work like business people- why they don’t work hard to
accurately capture all their ‘costs’ before and after producing

7. PSALTRY ROLE TO FARMERS
• Provide agricultural
production support services
in Nigeria
• Empower and integrate
smallholder farmers
through information
dissemination and capacity
building
• Train producer groups in
both technical and
managerial skills essential
for profitable production

8. DISTRIBUTION OF IMPROVED VARIETIES OF CASSAVA STEMS AND
FERTILIZER TO PSALTRY OUTGROWERS TO ACHIEVE OPTIMUM
STARCH YIELD.
PSALTRY MODEL PROMOTING YOUNG ENTERPRENEURS
Input Supply: Psaltry buy inputs in bulk at lower prices, and then supply them to the Out-
growers.

9. REGULAR FARM MEETINGS AND INSPECTIONS INCLUDING
FARMERS, BANKS AND EXTENSION OFFICERS
PSALTRY MODEL IN PROMOTING YOUNG ENTERPRENEURS
Financial Services: Access to cash loans and input credit is a very important service provided
by the Out-grower Scheme with Guarantee from Psaltry.

10. APPLICATION OF ORGANIC FERTILIZER AND MECHANIZED
PLANTING METHOD WAS EMPLOYED.

11. Loading On the Farm And Scaling On
Psaltry Weigh Bridge

12. Cassava Inspection And Offloading Ground
FACTORY USING 80-100 TONS OF CASSAVA A DAY

13. Washing of cassava Raspering of cassava

14. Laboratory, Quality Assurance And Warehousing

15. WAY-FORWARD FOR YOUTH ENTREPRENEURS IN
AGRI-BUSINESS
 Information Sharing

16. CONCLUSION
‘We knew to diversify the economy and we have,
because of the food production and the fact that we
have produced over 21 million metric tonnes of
additional food that has created the buffer that we see
today’ - Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina (Minister of Agriculture)
We believe Agriculture is the 21st century Oil boom and
until this is achieved, we will not tire out.