The Plateau State Government has kickstarted a transformative initiative aimed at tackling youth unemployment and repositioning agriculture as a profitable career path, deploying 1,000 young men and women to BARC Farms in the first phase of the Plateau Youth Agricultural Empowerment Programme (PYAEP).
Speaking at the official launch over the weekend at Government College, Jos, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Musa Ibrahim Ashoms, who represented Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, declared that the current administration is unwavering in its youth-first policy agenda.
“The governor has made it clear: the youth are the centerpiece of his administration. You are at the beginning, the middle, and the end of everything we do,” Ashoms affirmed.
Ashoms further revealed a bold infrastructural move to scale the agricultural initiative beyond Plateau’s borders. He announced that the state government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to upgrade the Yakubu Gowon Airport in Heipang into an international cargo terminal.
“With this upgrade, the produce you cultivate here at BARC Farms will find buyers not only in Nigeria but across borders,” Ashoms stated. “Off-takers are already lined up to buy your maize, rice, and soybeans.”
The PYAEP provides each youth with access to one hectare of land, along with government-supported agricultural inputs — including seedlings, fertilizers, herbicides, and mechanized tools. Out of over 10,000 applicants from all 17 LGAs of the state, the first 1,000 beneficiaries were selected through what officials described as a transparent, merit-based process.
With robust planning, infrastructure, and market access, officials believe Plateau is positioning itself as a national model for youth-driven agricultural enterprise — with Governor Mutfwang’s vision at the heart of it all.