Education
DEPARTMENT of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, University of Ibadan, has called for promotion of local inventions in the agricultural sector to meet the needs of Nigerians.
The Chairman, Exhibition Committee of the department, Dr Olawale Arogundade, made the call at an exhibition organised to showcase innovations in the various units of the department.
Arogundade noted that Nigeria was blessed with various agricultural resources that were capable of transforming its economy and providing jobs for the teeming populace.
He said that the department had been helping in building the capacity of students and members of the public to harness agricultural resources and turn them into income generation ventures.
“We train both individuals and companies as well. Most of these technologies can be developed and utilised by the youth.
“For instance, individuals can set up bee hives and be processing honey. They can also set up mushrooms spawn and be producing mushrooms.
“All these and more can be generating income for our youths. You don’t have to have so much money to be doing all these,” Arogundade said.
Also, the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan, Prof. Andrew Omojola, said that the university could do a lot to promote the innovations to increase the country’s internally-generated revenue (IGR).
According to him, if the agricultural resources are well harnessed and Nigerians embrace local products, food importation will reduce and the country’s economy will receive a boost.
“This is an innovative exhibition and I am surprised by so many things that I met here today. With little funding from the university, sky will be their limit,” Omojola said.
He urged the government to look inwards to address the country’s challenges, such as food security, adding that most of the products displayed at the exhibition could generate huge IGR for Nigeria.
The dean stressed the need for collaboration between the university and the private sector so that innovations from the institution would not be dying on the shelves.
In his remarks, a former head of the department, Prof. Rasheed Awodoyin, said that the event organised to showcase the department’s potentials with a view to creating awareness.
Awodoyin, who spoke on the importance of herbs, said that they were good for health delivery.
“The way you eat food and vegetables and they give you nutrients is the same way herbs will give you good health,” he said.
According to him, some people manage their health, using herbs and it is working for them, just as “it prolonged the lives of our forefathers.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exhibition included: bee wax, kenaf fibre and core to regenerate biodiversity and other uses as well as mushroom spawn for cultivation.
Others were: dry compost, cured poultry manure, euphorbis hirta for respiratory ailments, such as cough and asthma and justicia secunda for boosting blood and immune system. (NAN)
17th MAY, 2024.
C.E.
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