Start Them Early Program – Oyo (STEP-Oyo Project)

The overall objective of STEP-Oyo is to steer younger generations towards agriculture and agribusiness as a career path at an early age and provide them with hands-on experiences required for a lifetime of success in the industry.

STEP-Oyo aims to rid young secondary school students of counterproductive mindsets about agriculture and build their capacity and make them aware of the variety of career opportunities connected to the agriculture sector through:

• Agricultural education in formal education systems via the secondary schools’ agriculture curricula
• Providing hands-on experiences to reinforce what is taught in the classroom including providing supervised agricultural experiences in pilot enterprises across various agribusiness value chains (crop production, small animal production and value addition)
• Extracurricular Agribusiness Clubs

MILESTONES/LONG TERM OBJECTIVES

• 25,000 adolescents trained at secondary school level as Agriprenuers by 2024 and advanced to the youth in agribusiness programs
• Overhaul existing Agriculture curricula and move towards electronic-based learning in Secondary Schools

• More students continue their pursuit of post secondary education in the agricultural disciplines and related careers
• 3,000 tertiary students will be incubated
• 3,000 new youth-led Agribusinesses generated in the private sector
• Influx of a new generation of actors in the Agribusiness sector in Oyo State.
• Upgrade of Schools and Agribusiness Education Centres across the State