Partnership with the Leventis Foundation Agricultural Training School
Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi championed a partnership between ICDA and the Leventis Foundation Agricultural Training School to expand access to agricultural training for Ijesa youths.
Conceived The Partnership Between ICDA And Leventis Foundation, Nigeria To Train Over 100 Ijesa Youths In Agripreneurship
Among the many legacy-defining contributions of Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi, one initiative that stands out for its strategic foresight and youth-focused empowerment is his partnership with the Leventis Foundation Agricultural Training School, a collaboration that is transforming the lives of young Ijesa men and women through sustainable agricultural education and enterprise.
The Leventis Foundation Agricultural Training School, established over 34 years ago, has earned a sterling reputation as one of Nigeria’s premier agricultural institutions focused on practical, hands-on training in crop production, livestock management, agribusiness, farm mechanics, and agro-entrepreneurship. However, for decades, the benefits of this institution remained largely untapped by youths in Ijesaland until Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi stepped into the picture.
Understanding the urgent need to revive agricultural interest among the youth, reduce unemployment, and open new pathways for rural prosperity, Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi entered into a strategic development partnership with the Leventis Foundation, championing a collaborative program aimed at training Ijesa youths for free in a comprehensive one-year residential agricultural programme. The result of this bold partnership came to fruition on Thursday, 12th December 2024, when the first batch of 85 Ijesa youths graduated from the training programme in a colourful, emotional ceremony that was nothing short of a renaissance moment for Ijesaland. This was not just graduation, it was a launching pad into agricultural entrepreneurship, financial independence, and food system sustainability in Ijesaland.
The brilliance of this initiative lies in its design. This is not a political empowerment program or a token gesture. It is structured, skill-based, and deeply practical.
The curriculum spans over 12 months, blending theoretical knowledge with hands-on fieldwork in modern agricultural techniques.
What makes it even more transformative is that the programme is the co-funding of the partnership between the ICDA-Leventis Foundation; which provided tuition-free, accommodation-free, and feeding-inclusive, free learning materials and professional mentorship at no cost to the students throughout the one year programme. Through this, Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi has broken down the barriers that often exclude rural youths from life-changing opportunities. His intervention has rebranded agriculture from “subsistence” to “sustainability,” from “survival” to “success.”
Even as the first 85 graduates step into their new roles as agri-preneurs, farm managers, and agribusiness operators, training for the second batch of Ijesa youths has been successfully completed. This continuity affirms that the initiative is not a one-off event, but a sustainable, multi-year programme designed to empower hundreds more in the years ahead.
From zero enrolment of Ijesa Youth in the Leventis Foundation Agric Training, we now have Ijesa Youth Dominating the Yearly entrance admission figure courtesy of the initiative of Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi.
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