The Federal Government has thrown down a direct challenge to Nigerian universities and specialised colleges of agriculture: develop cutting-edge technologies and innovations capable of dramatically increasing the nation’s food production and ending perennial shortages.
The charge was delivered on Wednesday by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, during an on-site visit to the University of Abuja.
Senator Kyari commended tertiary institutions for embracing the Federal Ministry’s directive that each agricultural faculty and college cultivate a minimum of five hectares of farmland for practical training and direct food production.
He described the initiative as a “welcome first step” but insisted that far more ambitious research and innovation are now urgently required.“
Our universities and colleges of agriculture must move beyond routine lectures and demonstration farms,” the Minister declared. “You have the laboratories, the talent, and the land.
The country now looks to you to deliver new high-yield, climate-resilient seed varieties, affordable mechanisation solutions, smart irrigation systems, biological pest control, and post-harvest technologies that will transform Nigeria from a food-importing nation into a food-exporting powerhouse.
”While praising the University of Abuja’s ongoing cultivation of wheat, maize, and soybeans on its expanded farmland, Senator Kyari stressed that practical farming by institutions must be matched by aggressive research output that can be commercialised and scaled across the country.“
The era of graduating agronomists who have never operated a drone, formulated organic fertiliser, or developed a new cassava variety is over,” he said.
“We need breakthroughs that will feed 220 million Nigerians and beyond.”The Minister assured the institutions of increased funding for research grants under the National Agricultural Development Fund and pledged stronger collaboration between the Ministry and tertiary institutions to fast-track the adoption of home-grown innovations by farmers.
The visit to the University of Abuja is part of a nationwide tour by Senator Kyari to monitor compliance with the five-hectare farming directive and to personally challenge vice-chancellors and provosts to lead Nigeria’s next agricultural revolution.
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