Thread by @Agro_Centre

#TheAfricanFarmersStories tells of the passion, resilience & strength of the farmers in #Africa. Many don't understand their needs & pain but everyone is a beneficiary of their sweat.

Please join us tomorrow at 2pm for another eye opener on the exploits of the #African farmer.

“Farming is not just farming; it is also marketing. When selecting the crop to plant, take the market into consideration. Farming is interesting. Learn the trick!’ - Yinka Adesola

#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@OpenFundingNG
@adesola_yinka
@S4AfricaSMEs
@BusinessDayNg
@FAO

“I found myself on the farm because I found agriculture to be fabulous. I found that the most important thing to combat in my country is hunger. By learning to feed ourselves, we may be able to satisfy our domestic market.”
#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@FmardNg
@oyostategovt

The future is bright for agriculture, but what the youths need are facilities to produce in.” - Yinka Adesola

Welcome, Twitter Agro family to another edition of #TheAfricanFarmersStories. My name is Edobong Akpabio, your host on the programme. We're going to have a great time.

On #TheAfricanFarmersStories, we showcase and celebrate the work and impact of the farmers in #Africa, many of whom are hardly recognized & supported but without them, our fate would be unimaginable. So, grab a seat & a snack while we get to meet today's guest!
@adesola_yinka

Yinka Adesola is a versatile and passionate agribusiness coach; a trainer; and a pacesetter in the art of farming. She is also the Team Lead at the Farm Villa Resource Centre, a cluster farm settlement at Ago Amodu, Saki East LGA of Oyo State🇳🇬.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

The Centre is well known for its work on increasing the yield of vegetable production in Nigeria because Yinka believes that hunger and poverty can only be eradicated through increase in production and productivity.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@EnableAgWomen
@Gentle_Farmer

She has been providing training to potential and existing agro-entrepreneurs on good agricultural practices since 2015. An advocate of organic farming, Yinka considers fruits and vegetable management as her ‘territory’.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@agbejohnn
@one_plot

Yinka is also an advocate for growing food crops profitably and for cluster farming. She believes that farmers can go far by working together as a team. She is a geology graduate from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State🇳🇬
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

She is committed to training youths on agribusiness so that the nation can produce more food for her teeming populace. The IFDC’s 2SCALE Project refers to her as “the woman who founded her own field school to empower young agricultural entrepreneurs.”
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

Yinka Adesola is also committed to solving Nigeria’s food security situation by empowering the next generation with the tools and knowledge they need to grow and sell more food.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@unwomenafrica
@JosephineFaal
@Awan_Afrika
@Nig_Farmer

Every quarter of the year, trainees from all over #Nigeria come to her field school, the Entrepreneur Youth Multipurpose Cooperative, to learn vegetable production and sustainable farm management.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@FarmCafe
@MrOgbonnaya
@KennethObayuwa1

Yinka realized that if Nigeria were to feed itself and meet the needs of its domestic market, farm yields would need to be boosted. And with the aging producer population, young people held the key to unlocking Nigeria’s agricultural potential.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

Through training sessions sponsored by IFDC’s 2Scale Project, Yinka learnt how to increase farm productivity with good agricultural practices and integrated soil fertility management. She also learnt business management strategies.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@IFDCTraining

In addition, the IFDC's 2Scale Project linked her with East-West Seed, a company that breeds and produces high-quality vegetable seeds for tropical conditions.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories
@eastwestseed
@seedscouncilng
@NASC_NG

When she returned from the sessions, Yinka couldn't keep her new knowledge to herself: “I wanted to hold other trainings to attract more youth to agriculture, to show that agriculture is a lucrative business.” Thus, she founded her own field school.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

Many of Yinka’s trainees have graduated from the university and find agriculture to be very rewarding. Yinka often emphasizes that “farming is a lucrative business if you know your market, and if you can meet its requirement in volume and quality.”
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

For Yinka, training farms are filling the gap for information sharing for young agro-entrepreneurs. “What we are doing here is on a very small scale,” Yinka admits, but involving, training, and empowering youth “is a way out of our food crisis.”
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

Yinka published her first book “How to Farm Profitably in Nigeria” in October 2018. The book has received lots of encomiums and encouraging words from readers, especially players in the agriculture industry.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

Her second book “The Tomato Millionaire” is already on bookshelves all over Nigeria and promises to be a great treasure on growing tomato in Nigeria.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

Yinka's 3rd book, MmMaize: 7 Tonnes Harvest per Hectare, is set to be a bestseller.
#TheAfricanFarmersStories

“Growing crops is my hobby. Growing crops profitably is my passion. The sky is big enough to accommodate all of us. Together we can change the face of agriculture.” - Yinka Adesola

Please join me to welcome our guest to the programme #TheAfricanFarmersStories 👏👏👏

Q1. Yinka, we’re so glad to have you as our guest today on the programme, #TheAfricanFarmersStories. Tell us about your growing up years and about schooling. What were your experiences like?