building the next generation of agribusiness leaders in
TRANSCRIPT
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Building the Next Generation of Agribusiness
Leaders in Africa
IDRC Project Number: 109077-001
Year 1 Technical Interim Report
July 2019 to July 2020
Date Submitted: August, 2020
DR Congo, Kenya and Nigeria
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
IITA Headquarters, PMB 5320, Oyo Road, ldi-Oshe lbadan, Oyo State Nigeria
Names of Members if the Research Team: Adefioye Adedayo, Mulei Welissa, Bobo
Prince, Adewole Adedamola, Simiyu Maryfaith, Larinde Bolanle, Mutinda Lorraine, Oludayo Adedoyin, Kavunja Martin, Bekee Barivure, Ntabaza Yvette, Byake Christophe, Mwamini
Orbida and Woomer Paul
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1. Summary Start Them Early Program (STEP) is a new youth program initiated by the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to advance agribusiness development to secondary
schools in Africa. It is aimed at redirecting the aspirations of young people in secondary
schools towards careers in modern agriculture by exposing them to viable opportunities in
agribusiness at an early stage. The initial operations of the program, including its pilot phase,
are funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for 2 years in three
countries; DR Congo, Kenya, and Nigeria, under the project titled, “Building the Next
Generation of Agribusiness Leaders in Africa”, and is guided by seven major objectives, five
of which have a strong focus on key research questions.
The first six months of project’s implementation focused on understanding the perception of
students towards agriculture, as a baseline to the introduction of STEP intervention in
secondary schools, and the development of appropriate tools and mechanisms, embedded
within the STEP Agribusiness Model. Activities within the second six months were targeted at
using the three major agribusiness mechanisms, to test the model designed, based on the
seven objectives, and adjusting to the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The program’s implementation plan was developed during its inception workshop, held at
IITA Headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria in September 2019. This Implementation Plan comprises
the general approach and strategy embedded in a unique research-based, youth-led
agribusiness model, intended to provide understanding for better directing secondary schools
and their students toward careers in modern farming and agribusiness and initiate a network
of a new agribusiness club movement in Africa
The program in each host country kicked off with a baseline survey to generate information
on the attitudes of secondary school students toward agriculture as a candidate career choice.
1264 students were selected from eight schools; three from Nigeria, three from DR Congo,
and two from Kenya, to participate in the survey. The results of the study revealed that girls
were particularly averse to the excessive labour required in farming, and this drudgery
conditions their unfavourable attitudes to the field as a whole. Of these students, 53% ± 2%
identified agriculture as their highest career ambition and others recognize supplemental
livelihood opportunity from it. These students consider livestock, field cropping, small animal
production, and horticulture as the most viable enterprises. Other students (46%) plan to
avoid agriculture due to perceived difficulties in securing land (25%), hard labour (30%), and
low returns (20%)In general, the results of this study suggested several avenues for future
STEP activities designed to strengthen career pathways toward agriculture in specific schools.
The baseline survey was followed by the establishment of school agribusiness clubs, and
student agribusiness training using the designed model on 1,197 students, registered across
ten (10) schools in Nigeria, DR Congo and Kenya, on different agribusiness value chains.
Unique to this approach is the promotion of small-scale mechanization, introduction of
digitalised tools for agriculture and value addition, which has contributed to the positive shift
in the mind-set of young people towards agriculture.
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Table of Contents
1. Summary .................................................................................................................................. 2
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4
2. Planned activities ..................................................................................................................... 5
3. Current project status ............................................................................................................. 7
3.1 STEP inception workshop .................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Development of STEP Implementation Plan ...................................................................... 7
3.3 Identification of host schools .............................................................................................. 8
3.3.1 School selection criteria .................................................................................................. 8
3.3.2 Schools selected in DR Congo ......................................................................................... 8
3.3.3 Schools selected in Kenya ............................................................................................... 9
3.3.4 Schools selected in Nigeria .............................................................................................. 9
3.4 Baseline Survey Report ...................................................................................................... 10
3.4.1 Gender implications ....................................................................................................... 11
3.5 Development of training tools and approaches .............................................................. 12
3.6 Provision of ICT-support facilities ..................................................................................... 13
3.7 Redefining the youth-led agribusiness model.................................................................. 14
3.8 STEP early innovations ...................................................................................................... 14
3.8.1 STEP Kenya – Introduction of small-scale mechanization ........................................... 14
3.8.2 STEP Kenya – Establishing strategic partnerships ........................................................ 15
3.8.3 STEP Nigeria – ICT training (for teachers) ........................................................................... 15
3.8.4 STEP DR Congo – Agribusiness vacation camp ............................................................. 16
3.9 Establishment of STEP Extracurricular Clubs .................................................................... 17
3.11 Country Response to Covid-19 Outbreak ......................................................................... 19
3.12 STEP national recognition and adoptions......................................................................... 20
3.12.1 Adoption in Nigeria ............................................................................................................ 20
3.12.2 STEP Recognition in DR Congo .......................................................................................... 21
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1. Introduction Start Them Early Program (STEP) is one of the new youth initiatives launched by the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to advance agribusiness development to
secondary schools in Africa. It is aimed at providing basic understanding for better directing
secondary schools and their students toward careers in modern farming, agribusiness and
agro-industry, and initiate the core of a new African agribusiness club. The Program started
in 2019, with its initial operations (2019-2021) funded by the International Development
Research Centre (IDRC), under the project titled, “Building the Next Generation of
Agribusiness Leaders in Africa”. This program is guided by seven major objectives, five of
which have strong focus on key research statements. These include:
1. Understand gender differentiated aspirations of young people, their attitudes towards agriculture and how this influences their career choices.
2. Evaluate the capacities of secondary schools in different countries and settings to advance instruction and extracurricular activities related to agribusiness development and develop models for different rural settings.
3. Test a model of youth-led clubs devoted to agribusiness development. 4. Establish a network of youth-led pilot agribusiness enterprises and monitor their
development and impacts on changing youth attitudes towards agriculture. 5. Build capacity to document and scale out lessons from the research to other stakeholders
and schools (to inform curriculum development) in the three target countries and beyond.
These research questions are founded upon, agribusiness direction, gender opportunities,
agribusiness focus, and assimilated modernization. The two other objectives are based on the
development of ICT contents in the agribusiness training curriculum and the provision of ICT
capacity and resources for student agribusiness clubs and pilot enterprises established within
the project.
The project commenced in three countries; Nigeria, Kenya and DR Congo for its pilot phase,
with plan to gradually extend to other countries in the future, giving opportunities to more
African youth to become empowered through agribusiness.
Figure 1: STEP’s target and scaling
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The report contained in this document highlights the activities that were implemented during the first six months of project operations in 2019 (July to December 2019), and also reflects the progress made during this reporting period.
Key Year 1 Activities: Building the next generation of future agribusiness leaders in Africa
2. Planned activities
1. STEP inception workshop 2. Development of STEP Implementation Plan 3. Identification of host schools 4. Baseline survey report 5. Identification of training tools 6. Provision of ICT-support facilities 7. STEP early innovations 8. Establishment of STEP Extracurricular Clubs 9. Exploring digital interventions 10. Country response to Covid-19 outbreak 11. STEP recognition and adoption
Figure 2: Key STEP activities in Project Year 1
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Year 1: Key Information Chart
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3. Current project status
3.1 STEP inception workshop The inception workshop for STEP was held at IITA Ibadan, Nigeria, between 10 and 13
September 2019. The purpose of the workshop was to officially launch the Start Them Early
Program (Building the Next Generation of Agribusiness Leaders in Africa), and make plans for
its first year of operation in DR Congo, Kenya, and Nigeria.
The workshop had in attendance Dr Nteranya Sanginga, DG-IITA; Dr Paul Woomer, IITA’s
Technical Adviser; Dr Jemimah Njiku, Senior Program Specialist of IDRC; STEP Advance teams
from Kenya, Nigeria and DR Congo, members of IITA Women’s Group and IITA Youth
Agripreneurs, and other stakeholders.
The discussions at the workshop led to the design of the STEP Implementation Plan, which
now serves as the general guide for all the activities planned to be carried out across the three
countries. The workshop also leveraged on successes and lessons recorded in DR Congo by
IITA while engaging secondary schools in the past and from the youth-in-agribusiness
initiative (IYA) that started in 2012 to design its core activities, before fitting them into the
youth settings of each of the project locations.
3.2 Development of STEP Implementation Plan
The STEP Implementation Plan was designed by STEP-Country teams in Nigeria, Kenya, and DR Congo, and the Office of the Director-General of IITA. This document contains the STEP model, which offers secondary school students’ the opportunity to better understand and develop business opportunities through participating in coursework, extra-curricular clubs, and incubating pilot enterprises; these are the three agribusiness mechanisms.
It is research-based through investigations into the key questions, but at the same time conducted in an iterative, problem-solving manner based upon the unfolding opportunities and demands from the schools and student participants (Fig. 5).
A group photograph of participants at the inception workshop at IITA Ibadan, Nigeria
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The document also contains the five key thematic strategies of STEP: Training Strategy, Communication Strategy, Digital Support Strategy, Gender Strategy, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, upon which the program operations in each of the three countries are based.
The Training Strategy includes approaches outlined for Course Work, Pilot Incubation Enterprise, Extracurricular Activities, ICT application in agriculture, and Mechanized farming. Interventions within these approaches are based on the learning gaps found in the National Agricultural Science/School Curriculums of the three different countries.
The Communication Strategy developed key principles and approaches the project will follow
to set up and continuously improve both its internal and external communications. The
Gender Strategy has provided means of guiding the team on the promotion of gender equality
and the empowerment of young women and contains processes to follow to engage both
young men and women in learning and ensuring participation.
3.3 Identification of host schools Nine secondary schools have been selected; three in each country to implement the pilot phase of the project. The selection was done by STEP teams in each country, based on the criteria agreed upon during the inception workshop.
3.3.1 School selection criteria For homogeneity of sampling and evaluation across the three countries, STEP schools were
selected based on the following criteria:
Mixed enrollment of both boys and girls, and preferably public schools.
The willingness of the school to participate in STEP activities.
Availability of a demonstration field or space in the school environment or neighborhood, for pilot enterprises and experiential learning.
Location in contrasting peri-urban and rural zones.
Proximity to a mentoring, technical center offers an added advantage but is not mandatory.
3.3.2 Schools selected in DR Congo In DR Congo, STEP is implementing its activities within three schools in South Kivu Province
(Eastern DR Congo); Institut Weza, EDAP/ISP, and Institut Mushunguri. Weza is a private
school and the latter two are public. EDAP/ISP is located in a mixed market farming setting,
while the other two are located in a more subsistence farming area. Weza is the only institute
that is both a primary and secondary school. Agricultural instruction is provided at least three
times a week. The schools are open to collaboration with the private, development, and
public sectors.
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All the schools have a field area for course practical in crops. They rely on rain-fed agriculture
and have no irrigation systems. Before engagement with STEP, none had agricultural
machinery. Two schools include practical training in the rearing of small animals. Marketing
and value-addition are underrepresented in the curriculum. There are few computers in these
schools but when available are shared between teachers and students for agricultural
instruction. Extracurricular agricultural clubs have been in existence for the past two years in
Weza and EDAP but are not available in Mushunguri.
3.3.3 Schools selected in Kenya After visits to several schools by the STEP team in Kenya, the team has decided to work with
Mwiki Secondary School (Nairobi County), Afraha High School (Nakuru County), Kisayani
Secondary School (Makueni County), and Muongoiya Secondary School (Kiambu County).
Afraha Secondary School is located adjacent to a rural area in Nakuru in the Great Rift Valley,
has adequate land and irrigation for field activities, facilities available for food processing, and
operates a computer laboratory but lacks animal enterprise facilities and small-scale farm
equipment.
Mwiki Secondary School is located on the outskirts of Nairobi but near mixed highland farming
systems, has modest field space, water for irrigation, and ongoing animal enterprises, but
lacks a computer laboratory and food processing facilities.
Muongoiya Secondary School is located in Kiambu County within the Nairobi Metropolitan
Region. The county is a peri-urban area with both commercial and agricultural activities taking
place. The school has modest field space, water for irrigation, and a computer laboratory, but
lacks animal enterprises and food processing facilities.
Kisayani Secondary School is located in Kibwezi near Kibwezi Town in Makueni County. The
school has modest field space, water for irrigation, a computer laboratory, and a disused
greenhouse that requires renovation. However, they lack food processing facilities and animal
enterprises. The school is close to the Kibwezi Hortipreneur Youth Group (KHYG), an IITA and
STEP partner that will provide technical backstopping in training and mentoring of students.
All partner schools have neighboring primary and secondary schools that could replicate STEP
approaches and require assistance with farm inputs, new crop varieties, upgrading ICT
facilities, mechanized tools, and modest renovation. Currently, the farm produce is given to
the school kitchen and participating students or sold to teachers and the neighboring
community.
3.3.4 Schools selected in Nigeria The STEP team in Nigeria has selected three schools within the Southwestern region of the
country to implement the pilot phase of the program; Fasola Grammar School, Oluponna
High School, and Lead City International School. Fasola Grammar School and Oluponna High
School are both government-owned schools, situated in rural communities, with the former
located in a subsistence livelihood setting, and the latter in a market-oriented, mixed
agriculture area. The third school is a private school, with not much land area for establishing
demonstration fields but high levels of classroom and laboratory instruction.
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The two government schools have sufficient land for agricultural practice on crop production
and horticulture, while opportunities in value addition will be emphasized in Lead City
International School. Oluponna High School has most of its graduates going into vocational
fields while a small number of students further their education in Universities and
Polytechnics. One reason for the small proportion of students furthering their education is
that most of their parents lack formal education as well.
Secondary schools in Nigeria have compulsory agricultural training during the junior years,
and then offer it as an elective during the senior years. Attracting more seniors to that elective
becomes a target for STEP in Nigeria. Note that Fasola Grammar School is located close to
Fasola Farms, a government farm settlement with agribusiness experts from the Ministry of
Agriculture; and that Oluponna High School is adjacent to the OFFERCentre Institute of
Agriculture that offers a National Diploma in Agriculture.
Table 1: Names and basic characteristics of schools selected in Nigeria, Kenya, and DR Congo
Country Name of School Status/
Agricultural Zone
Location of School
School Population
Population of Agriculture
Students
Number of students
enrolled for STEP
Nigeria
Fasola Grammar School
Public School Oyo State 326 326 196
Oluponna High School
Public School Osun State 993 993 173
Lead city High School
Private School Oyo State 274 274 25
Kenya
Mwiki Secondary School
Public School Nairobi County
501 150 40
Muongoiya Secondary School
Public School Kiambu County
602 150 50
Afraha High School Public School Nakuru County
1202 300 60
Kisayani Secondary School
Public School Makueni 687 551 60
DRC
Institut Weza Public School Nyangezi 904 110 109
EDAP/ISP Public School Bukavu 2026 394 330
Mushunguri Institut Public School Mudaka 320 154 154
3.4 Baseline Survey Report
The team in each country conducted a baseline survey to generate information on the attitudes of secondary school students toward agriculture as a candidate career choice. The survey was carried out in eight schools; all the three schools in Nigeria and DR Congo and two schools in Kenya. The STEP team in Kenya still plans to conduct the survey for Muongoiya Secondary School.
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The survey involved 1,264 secondary school students, a representative cross-section belonging to eight of the nine secondary schools. They were surveyed to assess their attitudes toward career pathways to agriculture and agribusiness.
The teams from the three countries jointly responded to a well-structured questionnaire that quantified the proportion and gender of youth that enrol in agriculture courses, belong to young farmer clubs, and practice different agricultural enterprises.
Of these students, a slight majority (54%) imagined agriculture playing some role in their future, with animal enterprise (42% of them), field cropping (30%), and food processing (15%) being the most attractive options.
At the same time, 46% of those surveyed had no attraction to agriculture for a variety of reasons including its requirement for excessively hard labor (30%) while offering reduced returns for effort (20%) and an overall unfavorable image of farmers (21%). At the same time, 25% of these youth stated that they lack the land or facilities needed to practice farming and this excluded it as an option in their career planning.
3.4.1 Gender implications
Some 41% of the surveyed students were girls, allowing for gender comparison. Fewer girls profess to originate from farming backgrounds (‒12%) or to have plans involving farming (‒28%). Both of these factors imply a gender basis for the stigma associated with agricultural careers.
Of those girls attracted to careers in agriculture, fewer are attracted to field cropping (‒16%), animal rearing (‒31%), and fish farming (‒20%); but girls are far more attracted to opportunities involving food processing (+36%) and marketing (+46%). More girls than boys are discouraged from farming because it involves drudgery (+43%), but fewer girls believe that agriculture offers fewer opportunities (‒33%)
The results of this study suggest several avenues for future STEP activities designed to strengthen career pathways toward agriculture in specific schools, but the relatively small sample size is not intended necessarily to reflect the larger status within their respective countries.
STEP Baseline survey in progress at Muongoiya Secondary School in Kenya.
STEP Baseline survey in progress at WEZA Institut in DR Congo.
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3.5 Development of training tools and approaches The team developed a training strategy, which includes approaches and tools which have now
been adapted into the school settings in different countries.
These include training approaches, value chain per country, training materials,
parent/teacher involvement, school open days, gender and reproductive health training,
selection of facilitators/volunteers, and training of trainers’ programs. The training approach,
based on the three approaches towards STEP’s training are: Course work, Pilot incubation
enterprise, and Extracurricular activities.
Courses and activities were selected based on the major constraints that exist in agricultural instruction resulting in the delay of technologies in the three different countries which include: reliance upon hard tools resulting in excessive drudgery and stress, punishment through force assigned labour, poor understanding of the agricultural value chain, incomplete attention to soft skills with class training, and insufficient practical skills through experiential learning (Table 1).
Figure 3: Opinions held by boys
and girls.
STEP Training Manual
Figure 4: STEP Training Manual Framework.
Figure 2: Responses from 1264 secondary school students.
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3.6 Provision of ICT-support facilities Most of the schools engaged have been provided with ICT equipment, purchased to set up
computer workstations, intended to strengthen ICT use, and facilitate the training of both the
school teachers and students in the schools identified. The objective of installing these
computer stations in schools was to allow students and teachers to be able to use ICT in
agriculture. This equipment includes: Desktop computers and laptops, security locks, Internet
facilities (with good bandwidth), projectors, printers, and learning materials. The computers
have also been loaded with the training manuals and curriculums to be used.
The majority of the schools identified by STEP did not have ICT workstations. This has deprived
both the teachers and students access to basic ICT tools and equipment such as computers,
smartphones, tablets, etc. The project intends to overturn this through the provision of some
basic ICT equipment, which should give these young people the opportunity to develop ICT
entrepreneurship and innovations.
Table 1. Core approaches in building the next generation of agribusiness leaders.
Course work Pilot incubation Extracurricular activities
Computer training including Office
packages
ICT application in Agriculture
E-learning platforms, short quizzes
Leadership, followership, teamwork,
work ethics and communication skills
Business plan development and business
management
Accounting and farm record keeping
Marketing including digital branding and
sales
Gender and reproductive health
education
Nutritional health.
Land preparation and animal
barn installation
Crop and animal production
Application of mechanization
in the enterprises
Postharvest management
and handling
Processing and value
addition
Marketing and branding
using ICT.
Games, both offline and
online
Competitions, debates,
presentations, designs,
quizzes
Excursions, field visits, and
exchange programs
Mentorship sessions, career
talks, and seminars.
Instructor’s computer set up for Fasola
Grammar School in Nigeria. STEP ICT facilities provided for students at
WEZA Institut in DR Congo
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3.7 Redefining the youth-led agribusiness model The STEP model will offer secondary school students the opportunity to better understand and develop business opportunities through participating in coursework, extra-curricular clubs and incubating pilot enterprises; these are the three agribusiness mechanisms. It is research-based through investigations into the key questions, but at the same time conducted in an iterative, problem-solving manner based upon the unfolding opportunities and demands from the schools and student participants (Fig. 5).
The students will be engaged in mind-set changing activities, which begins with sensitization
visits, after conducting a baseline survey and selecting students in each school. The baseline
study will be conducted in all the schools of intervention to determine the perception of
students towards agriculture and to better understand how to engage the students in
agribusiness.
3.8 STEP early innovations
3.8.1 STEP Kenya – Introduction of small-scale mechanization
A cost-effective Weeding Machine (Paddle weeder) with added accessories of a weeder blade
and two brush cutter blades which cost $450 and weighs 12 kg would suffice in place of a land
tiller which costs $1150 and weighs 90 kg, in soft soil conditions. An added advantage of the
former is that it is lighter in comparison and thus easier for youth to handle. The cost
difference allows us to expand STEP participation in other schools or diversify in other project
areas.
Figure 5: STEP’s research-based approach.
Small-scale agricultural mechanization training at Mwiki Secondary School in Kenya.
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3.8.2 STEP Kenya – Establishing strategic partnerships To leverage on the IITA Youth Agripreneur (IYA) expertise and closeness to selected STEP schools, three of the STEP personnel in Kenya were previously involved in the movement. The personnel underwent incubation and thereafter established enterprises along several agricultural value chains. They have experience conducting youth training, advocacy, and community outreach and have been entrusted to transfer this knowledge to their younger counterparts. STEP will rely on IYA incubation centers for equipment and technical backstopping as is the case in schools in Makueni County. This has allowed for additional STEP Schools besides the originally planned two schools.
A collaborative partnership with the USTADI Foundation under the VijaBiz project was established in 2019 to enhance the training of youth from both STEP and VijaBiz. The Vijabiz project aims to equip youth from the age of 18 years with agribusiness skills while STEP targets youth between the ages of 13 to 18. Both projects aim to engage and allow both age groups to share and learn from one another. Youth engaged with Vijabiz will interact with students from Afraha High School. In the long run, this synergy will enhance skills learned from both groups.
Schools were deliberately selected on the lines of the resourcefulness of the school administration and teachers in a bid to efficiently utilize limited resources while upholding high-quality efficiency and skill. Most of the school administrators committed resources to land levelling and preparation, and the installation of metallic grills and safe rooms for STEP equipment and supplies. Some administrators innovatively helped the STEP team get around the otherwise lengthy procedure to obtain consent from relevant government authorities.
3.8.3 STEP Nigeria – ICT training (for teachers)
STEP in Nigeria has commenced the training of teachers and students on the use of ICT in agriculture. This step was to develop and strengthen the usage of digital tools and technologies in facilitating learning by the teachers and create awareness.
The goal of this training was to enable both the teachers and the students to be sufficiently prepared, confident, and competent in making full use of the benefits of these facilities in and
Small-scale agricultural machines for Mwiki Secondary
School in Kenya.
Mechanization training at Muongoiya Secondary School
in Kenya.
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out of the classroom: For technology integration to be successful, teachers need to make informed choices relating to students’ needs and learning objectives.
The training focused on:
Ways the teachers would use ICT to enhance learning, i.e., research, communication, collaboration, innovative tools.
Emphasizing practical learning and creation of curricular projects and assessments.
Use of Web 2.0 and Social Media for agribusiness.
3.8.4 STEP DR Congo – Agribusiness vacation camp
The STEP team in DR Congo organized a special agribusiness holiday program for the students
of the three schools in DR Congo: Weza Institute, EDAP Institute, and Mushunguri Institute in
December 2019. The team chose to intervene during the holidays to avoid disrupting the
academic programs during normal school sessions. The program gave opportunities to STEP
club members to strengthen their capacity in agricultural entrepreneurship and guide them
in their aspirations towards careers in agriculture.
Training the teachers of Fasola Grammar School in
Nigeria on the use of computers.
Students of Fasola Grammar School in Nigeria learning
how to use computers.
Students in DR Congo receiving lectures on agribusiness
management.
Students at WEZA Institut in DR Congo learning how to
produce and package juice.
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The program in each of the three schools commenced with site visits to local agribusinesses
established and managed by young people, to enable the students to understand the
business environment and see the possibility of wealth from agriculture. Four major training
modules were used to facilitate the agricultural entrepreneurship session of the program.
These were (1) Basics of entrepreneurship, (2) Understanding your product, (3)
Understanding your market, and (4) Writing a business plan. The program also incorporated
lectures on environmental management and gender and the need to give equal
opportunities to both boys and girls in accessing resources and making decisions in the
community.
3.9 Establishment of STEP Extracurricular Clubs The teams commenced activities for the second half of year 1 of project implementation with
the establishment of STEP agribusiness extracurricular clubs. Ten (10) clubs; one in each
school, were established across the three countries (three in Nigeria, three in DR Congo and
four in Kenya). The clubs have registered a total of 1,197 students for agribusiness
development; 593 students in DR Congo, 210 students in Kenya and 394 students in Nigeria.
These clubs are coordinated together, with school Agriculture teachers and members of the
Youth Agriprenuers Program of IITA, using agribusiness curriculums and instruction manuals
designed to develop the agribusiness entrepreneurial capacities of the students, established
through experiential learning. The school clubs are sub-divided into different enterprise
groups based on the value chain of interest of the students and available modern technologies
and school space.
Training of students at one of the schools in Kenya
One of the students in the STEP-Poultry Club, undergoing
training at Fasola Grammar School (Nigeria)
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3.10 Exploring digital interventions to create awareness on usefulness of ICT in
agriculture A total of 365 students (221 boys; 144 girls) were trained on the use of ICT in Agriculture
across the schools. A majority of these students are also members of the School STEP
Agricultural clubs; 80 students in Nigeria, 159 in Kenya and 126 in DR Congo. STEP received
the support of CTA to produce the digital ccomponents of STEP agricultural training
curriculum. These component was designed by the STEP teams in Nigeria, Kenya and DR
Congo, in collaboration with CTA-IFAD Vijabiz Project, make provisions for capacity
development on ICT for students, particularly in the management of pilot enterprises and
student agribusiness clubs.
Table 2: Total number of students trained and overall distribution by country and sex
These components focused on creating ‘awareness on the usefulness of ICT for agribusiness’;
showcasing the opportunities offered by ICT to agriculture, its limitations and some of the
digital solutions (ICT tools and platforms) developed, particularly by young people in Africa,
to support agribusiness development. Students were exposed to relevant Social media
Agribusiness Groups and Pages and agriculture relevant websites e.g Access Agriculture, and
Apps. The ICT devices and internet facilities provided to schools upgraded traditional teaching
to E-Teaching, which involved both online and offline methods. The offline e-teaching was
intended for the classroom, and represents better use of computer presentation tools (digital
projectors and computers) and skills in the classroom. It is a technological leap over the
A student member of the Rabbit Club in
EDAP Secondary School in DR Congo
A student member of the Rabbit Club in
EDAP Secondary School in DR Congo
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conventional classroom methods based on blackboards and chalk. While online e-Teaching
involves linking to sources of information available over the internet and to delivering
educational material through other computers. The students appeared particularly
responsive to visual stimulus in the forms of photos, conceptual diagrams and animations and
videos, which aroused the passion of their teachers in learning these improved digital skills
for facilitating learning.
3.11 Country Response to Covid-19 Outbreak
At the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the three teams responded with safe and
innovative ways to keep the students active in agribusiness activities. It became very
challenging to engage all the students registered for training before the corona virus
outbreak, hence, the teams designed a comprehensive “Project Continuity Plan”.
In the case of Kenya where there has been complete lockdown for most of the days, the teams
used virtual meetings to sustain interactions. The team developed an online learning
opportunity platform that offers both E-teaching and E-learning. The platform offers online
and offline materials to students and teachers, with assessment tests to enable participants
evaluate their progress. It also has an interactive material in form of PowerPoint
presentations, PDFs, illustrative videos, and gradable quizzes. A total of 383 secondary school
youth from the STEP schools have accessed training virtually since the outbreak of Covid19.
The team also created a “Home Agribusiness Challenge”.
The team in DRC promoted the family farming initiative, which offers two major benefits;
improving the knowledge and skill of students on agribusiness at home, and contributing to
family food security during this period. While in the case of the project team in Nigeria, a new
batch-training program was explored the team modified the trainings to accommodate batch
trainings; intensive student training-of-trainers for 5 students per enterprise. These five (5)
students will form the club enterprise groups and train their co-students.
Few of the STEP students in DR Congo, engaged in agribusiness activities during Covid-19 outbreak
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3.12 STEP national recognition and adoptions Within the first 12 months of project implementation, STEP has demonstrated to key
stakeholders the efficacy of using an improved agribusiness mechanism to encourage younger
generations to embrace agriculture. The program, through its robust research component,
has generated results and key lessons, which have started attracting the interest of both the
private and public sectors, to scale out and adopt the new agribusiness model of STEP,
particularly within the three host countries.
The program has also started exploring partnerships with national governments to ensure
that the improved agriculture instructions, which were tested across ten (10) schools become
successfully integrated into school’s agriculture curriculum systems across Africa. This major
achievement is in line with the Objective 5 of the project: “Build capacity to document and
scale out lessons from the research to other stakeholders and schools (to inform curriculum
development) in the three target countries and beyond”.
3.12.1 Adoption in Nigeria In Nigeria, Oyo State government in partnership with IITA, has committed $1.2 million for
three years to scale out the STEP initiative to six (6) new secondary schools within the state.
The Governor of the state, Engineer Oluseyi Makinde, made this commitment when he
launched the program at one of the pilot schools; Fasola Grammar School, on July 23, 2020.
This partnership will further replicate the program in 10 more schools in 2021 and another 10
schools in 2022. The country project team has commenced activities in two of the six new
schools. During the launching program, the IDRC and CTA were lauded for providing the initial
resources for the operations of the program across Nigeria, Kenya and DR Congo. The
program has also received an official letter of interest from the Ministry of Education, through
its Ministry of Education, to extend the program to the students in 1,767 secondary schools
within the state. The Commissioner of the Ministry, officially requested for the
Few of the STEP students, participating in the batch training-of-trainers program in Nigeria, during Covid-19 outbreak
21
3.12.2 STEP Recognition in DR Congo The Program is set to be given wide outreach in DR Congo, after it received national
recognition for its impact on secondary students in the country. Some of the students
engaged in agribusiness development trainings at the pilot schools (with support of the
Project team), delivered presentations to the President of the country, H.E. Felix Tshisekedi
Tshilombo, on how the program has changed the manner their mind-set and attitude towards
agriculture in their respective schools, during the launching of “The President Olusegun
Obasanjo Research Campus” at IITA Kalambo station (DR Congo). During launching program,
STEP was endorsed, as an inclusion in the country’s agriculture loan packages. The program
is now set to reach 5,000 students in DR Congo in the next one year, with support of the
national government.
The DG-IITA (L) and the Governor of Oyo State, Eng.
Oluseyi Makinde (R), launching the STEP initiative at
Fasola Grammar School
The students engaged by STEP, showcasing one of the small-
scale machines to the Governor and the DG-IITA
One of the STEP students, making a presentation to President Tshisekedi
The Coordinator of STEP in DR Congo, Prince Bobo, presenting some of the tools the program has adopted in the training students on agribusiness