Oyo, ICMPD Launch €2.4m Youth Agriculture Project to Curb Irregular Migration

The Oyo State Government and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) have launched a €2.4 million agricultural project aimed at empowering about 700 youths and curbing irregular migration from the state.

The Youth Empowerment and Reintegration Project (YERP), funded by the Danish Government, targets people aged 18 to 35, with particular focus on youths in rural communities and returnee migrants across Nigeria's South-West.

Speaking at the signing of the project agreement in Ibadan, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Olasunkanmi Olaleye, explained that the project would provide access to agricultural training, farmland, cooperative development, market opportunities, and broader livelihood support for beneficiaries. He added that the project would address rural youth unemployment, support the sustainable reintegration of returnee migrants, curb irregular migration, and promote rural economic development through climate-smart and sustainable agricultural practices.

Olaleye disclosed that the state government had secured 1,766 hectares of unencumbered farmland in Ilero, within Kajola Local Government Area, along with an additional 50 hectares at the Rural Community Development Centre in Aawe, Afijio Local Government Area, specifically for the project's use. He explained that the government would facilitate access to land, security, agricultural training, mechanisation, market linkages, and other forms of support needed to help beneficiaries establish sustainable livelihoods, noting that the project would also promote sustainable land management and contribute to the state's broader food security efforts.

The commissioner situated the new initiative within the context of existing programmes under Governor Seyi Makinde's administration aimed at making agriculture attractive to young people as a viable business and career path, rather than merely a subsistence activity. He listed youth training, agribusiness development, climate-smart agriculture, mechanisation, digital soil testing, extension services, and market-oriented interventions among the state's existing agricultural initiatives that YERP would build upon.

Olaleye disclosed that YERP was also expected to generate evidence capable of informing future policies on youth employment and migration management, both within Oyo State and potentially beyond. "YERP is therefore coming into an environment where a foundation for youth participation in agriculture already exists. What the partnership with ICMPD brings is an additional opportunity to extend these efforts to more rural young people and returnee migrants," Olaleye explained. He urged young people to explore opportunities across the broader agricultural value chain, including production, processing, logistics, mechanisation, digital agriculture, and marketing, rather than limiting themselves to farming alone.

Speaking at the same event, ICMPD's Portfolio Manager for the Pan-Africa Region, Marcello Giordani, described Nigeria as ICMPD's biggest and most important partner in Africa. He explained that while ICMPD runs several projects across Nigeria, YERP stood out specifically because of its potential to create sustainable opportunities for young people through agriculture. "With new technology and the right conditions to enable them to build their future and earn a living through agriculture, I believe this project could be of great help," Giordani stated. He commended the Oyo State Government for its commitment to the partnership, noting that the signing itself demonstrated the state's ownership of the project rather than treating it as an externally imposed intervention.

Officials from the Oyo State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, including Permanent Secretary Abosede Owoeye, along with representatives of ICMPD, attended the signing ceremony in Ibadan.

The YERP initiative reflects a broader pattern of international development partnerships targeting youth unemployment and irregular migration across Nigeria's South-West, a region that has historically seen significant outward migration pressure among young people seeking economic opportunities abroad. By combining direct access to farmland with training, mechanisation support, and market linkages, the project's designers appear to be betting that a comprehensive agricultural support package, rather than farmland access alone, will be necessary to meaningfully shift youth economic behaviour and reduce the pull toward irregular migration routes.