14,800 Ondo youths targeted in new phase of IFAD’s LIFE-ND project

By : Adewale Momoh

Date: 8 January 2026 7:34pm WAT

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No fewer than 14,800 youths in Ondo State are expected to benefit from the new phase of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises–Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) Project under its Additional Financing (AF) programme.

The State Project Coordinator, Dr Ademola Olawale, disclosed this in Akure during a media roundtable organised by the Ondo State Project Coordinating Office.

Olawale said five per cent of the beneficiaries would be persons living with disabilities (PWD), while over 50 per cent would be female.

According to him, the first phase of the project commenced in 2020 and ended in October 2025, spanning five batches and benefiting over 4,000 people across the state.

He explained that the new AF phase would run until 2028 and would focus mainly on cocoa, fishery, poultry and cassava value chains, with emphasis on production, processing and marketing.

Olawale added that beneficiaries would be trained and empowered within three months to establish their enterprises, noting that support would be provided either through cash grants or equipment, depending on individual needs.

He said, “For this Additional Financial Programme, 5,800 will benefit as regular incubatees and 9,000 as Business Development Service (BDS) in the next three years.

“IFAD LIFE-ND goals are to remove poverty from society, particularly rural areas, and to ensure that there is positive transformation by lifting people out of poverty.

“Before now, incubatees were trained by farmers called incubators, but we have added another area called Business Development Service (BDS). The BDS are individual agencies or corporate bodies that will add value to what our beneficiaries are doing.”

Olawale commended the Ondo State Government for its support, particularly in providing security, a conducive working environment and payment of counterpart funding.

Also speaking, the State Rural Institution Gender and Youth Officer, Bolanle Akinyede, said the new phase would be more beneficial than the first, adding that five per cent of beneficiaries would be persons living with disabilities.

Akinyede said the project primarily targets youths aged between 18 and 35, noting that 2,142 beneficiaries were female, 76 were persons living with disabilities, while the remaining beneficiaries were male.

One of the beneficiaries, Daniel Omoniyi, from Igoba Community in Akure North Local Government Area, commended the IFAD LIFE-ND Project for identifying and supporting deserving youths, urging others to take advantage of the programme.

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