Agriculture stream
Agriculture Skills
A guided week online on the range of agricultural opportunities across the North Central zone — crops, livestock, poultry, fish and processing — then two days at the centre turning modern and traditional techniques into real, usable skills on the value chains Nasarawa produces at scale.
Syllabus
Five subject units
Units one to three are covered in the guided week online; units four and five at the centre in Lafia.
Units one to three — the guided week online, 7–13 September 2026
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Unit one Online, on this platform
The range of agricultural opportunities
Crops, livestock, poultry, fish farming, agro-processing and the input and service businesses that surround them across the North Central zone, and how to weigh land, capital and skill in choosing one to build on.
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Unit two Online, on this platform
Soil, seed and agronomy — modern and traditional
Soil health and testing, land preparation, improved and certified seed alongside the indigenous seed-saving and intercropping practice already used on Nasarawa farms, spacing and planting practice, and fertiliser use for the State’s priority crops: sesame, soybean, rice, maize and groundnut.
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Unit three Online, on this platform
Irrigation and water management
Dry-season and fadama farming on the Benue floodplains; furrow, drip and sprinkler methods alongside traditional hand-irrigation; solar-powered pumping and its economics against petrol pumps; scheduling, and water conservation.
Units four and five — at the centre, 14–15 September 2026
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Unit four In person, in Lafia
Crop protection and post-harvest handling
Integrated pest and disease management, safe agrochemical handling, harvesting practice, drying, threshing, aflatoxin control, grading and storage — the stage at which most farm income is currently lost.
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Unit five In person, in Lafia
Agribusiness, finance and field practice
Costing and farm record-keeping, gross-margin analysis, aggregation, offtaker and processor relationships, access to agricultural credit and insurance, cooperative and cluster formation, and a supervised full-day field practical.
Places and support
Who this stream is for, and what follows it
Priority criteria decide who is shortlisted; enablement is what the programme provides after the training itself.
Eligibility
Priority is given to
- Priority to practising smallholder farmers
- Members of registered cooperatives
- Young people with demonstrable access to farmland
Applicants are drawn from all thirteen Local Government Areas, and not less than 50 per cent of the places in this stream are held for women, youth and persons living with disabilities. An applicant may hold a place in one stream only.
Enablement
What follows the training
Ten producer clusters, each receiving a shared solar irrigation kit with basic implements and input support.
Every participant who completes the programme presents their business at the closing pitch and may be supported. At the end of the programme, the top participants are supported with a ₦3,000,000 grant and a job opportunity.
Cohort
When this stream runs
One cohort, drawn from every Local Government Area. Places in the physical classes in Lafia on 14 to 16 September 2026 are given by performance in the online week.
- Cohort reference
- NAS-AG-01 — Agriculture Skills — Nasarawa 2026
- Guided week online
- 7–13 September 2026
- At the centre
- 14–16 September 2026, including the closing day of pitching, awards and graduation
- Venue
- To be announced
- Places
- 700
- Status
- Planned