Demonstration environment — nominations entered here are practice data, not the live register. The live site is cdtin.org.

Seal of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Capacity Development Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Capacity Development Capacity Development Training Initiative

Agriculture stream

Agriculture Skills

Practical agronomy, dry-season irrigation and post-harvest handling, built around the value chains Nasarawa produces at scale and the irrigation opportunity created by the River Benue floodplains.

700 places 10 days end to end One week online, then two days at the centre
Apply to this stream The other two streams

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

  1. Unit one Online, on this platform

    Soil, seed and agronomy

    Soil health and testing, land preparation, improved and certified seed, spacing and planting practice, and fertiliser use for the State’s priority crops: sesame, soybean, rice, maize and groundnut.

  2. Unit two Online, on this platform

    Irrigation and water management

    Dry-season and fadama farming on the Benue floodplains; furrow, drip and sprinkler methods; solar-powered pumping and its economics against petrol pumps; scheduling, and water conservation.

  3. Unit three Online, on this platform

    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.

Units four and five — at the centre, 14–15 September 2026

  1. Unit four In person, in Lafia

    Agribusiness and market linkage

    Costing and farm record-keeping, gross-margin analysis, aggregation, offtaker and processor relationships, quality standards for sesame and soybean export, and pricing.

  2. Unit five In person, in Lafia

    Finance, cooperatives and field practice

    Access to agricultural credit and insurance, cooperative and cluster formation, supervised full-day field practical, and cluster constitution for post-training support.

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

Nominees 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. A nominee 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.

Graduates of every stream may also enter the pitch competition on the closing day, where winning ventures receive seed grants at the graduation ceremony.

Cohort

When this stream runs

One cohort, drawn from every Local Government Area, training at a single centre in Lafia.

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