$185M to procure tunnel houses for Agricultural Innovation Programme

Of the $200 million allocated in this year’s budget for the President’s Agricultural Innovation Entrepreneurship Program (AIEP), a sum of $185 million will be expended for the procurement of 100 tunnel houses.

The contract was awarded to Agrosol for the procurement of these houses, which would be placed in areas across the country, as the Agriculture Ministry seeks to expand the initiative.

Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha boasted that his Ministry has received a number of requests from young people who are interested in joining the programme.

“I was able to look at a number of requests, coming from young people in various parts of the country where they are interested in…these areas. We are encouraging young people to be…in agriculture, we want [to] make agriculture more modern [and] less labour intensive. I am happy to see the interest being exhibited by young people coming into the agriculture sector,” the Minister shared.

The AIEP, which was launched in January 2022 By President Dr. Irfaan Ali in an effort to bolster the agriculture sector, empower youths and create jobs, is fully financed by the Government and participants can earn big from the produce they harvest.

By the end of 2022, 120 shade houses were constructed to support the production. The PPP/C administration aims to engage a further 100 new young agri-entrepreneurs and increase the production of the crops by 50% this year.

In a previous article posted by the Department of Public Information (DPI), it stated that the ambitious goal will benefit young people by providing them with employment opportunities, and boost the country’s economy by increasing food security and exports of high-value crops.

The programme currently has some 100 participants. It was previously disclosed that the initiative earned more than $10M to date, since its launch in January 2022 by the President.

Interested persons who are between the ages of 18-35 can apply to join this programme via email at [email protected] or contact the team at +592 608 0527.

Persons outside of Region 4 can also write to the Agriculture Minister stating their interest.