A former Provost of the College of Agriculture, Akure, Dr. Samson Odedina has called on universities and other tertiary institutions in the country to put in place internal mechanisms that would prepare students for jobs and wealth creation in the agric sector after graduation.
Odedina also emphasised the need for stakeholders in the agricultural sector and tertiary institutions to better collaborate so that the country can achieve food security sufficiency.
The ex-Provost who is now the Commissioner for Agriculture in Ogun State, gave the advise at a public lecture he delivered at the Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State. The lecture was titled, ‘Agricultural Development and the 21st Century Nigeria: challenges and prospects.’
Continuing, Odedina reeled out some of the challenges to agricultural development in Nigeria to include, “infrastructural deficit, land issues, finances, input, technology and lack of value chain coordination.”
Suggesting the way forward, he stressed the need for schools to be fully involved in “agricultural education, value chain coordination, agricultural financing, seeking international support for agriculture including project (Special Agro Processing Zone of African Development Bank), infrastructure, market linkage, centre for large orders,” among others.
While commending the Achievers University for involving in various agricultural programmes for their students, he emphasised,
“This lecture is talking about the challenges of agricultural development, how we can solve them and how we can cope with the present challenges? I am sure, with what we’ve seen here (in Achievers University) with the environment and the style, they’ll excel in taking the lead in agricultural development,” he lauded.
In his remarks, the Pro-Chancellor of the institution, Dr. Bode Ayorinde, explained that the problem of unemployment in the country should propel proprietors of varsities to introduce and train their students in the agricultural economy.
“The community benefits immensely. Whatever we produce here is for the community and our immediate environment. We have also trained thousands of students that pass through this place (university) so that some of them can employ themselves in this (agricultural) type of business as they graduate from this university,” he noted.
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