AAUA VC sets 10-point agenda for Buhari, others at 69 FUTA inaugural lecture

The Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA), Professor Igbekele Ajibefun, has set a 10-point agenda for governments at all levels to increase productivity and sustainability in the agriculture sector.

Ajibefun, who delivered the 69th Inaugural lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ondo state, on Tuesday, June 2nd 2015, spoke on the topic, “Nigeria’s Agricultural Policy, Productivity and Poverty: The Critical Nexus."

According to a report published by the F, the Professor of Agricultural Economics said the Federal government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, and governments at all levels must take urgent steps and invest heavily in Research and Development in order to achieve food security and reduce poverty

"Heavy investment in research and development and effective interaction between researchers and the farm households are key elements in raising agricultural productivity and poverty reduction," he said.

"Sustainable agricultural productivity growth can only be achieved through sustained local and global investment in agricultural research and development which will ensure delivery of improved technologies to farmers.

"Such technologies include improved crop varieties, fertilizer, biological control of insect pests, and control of livestock diseases and better methods of natural resources management”.

The don also advised that governments ensure unhindered access of smallholder farmers to productivity-enhancing inputs; provision of sustainable rural financial and other services to ensure more systematic access to markets; access to breed of highly productive animals that can withstand the stress of the tropical environment; enhancement of rural finance and micro-enterprise development; institution of strategy and programme that can promote innovative solutions to rural poverty; the establishment of community-driven development approach; promotion of irrigation agriculture and drainage infrastructures for climate change adaptation; integration of indigenous knowledge and practices into formal climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and effective capacity building to strengthen the most vulnerable group in agricultural production as the pathways to the development and sustainability of the sector.

Ajibefun expressed optimism that agriculture can regain its position as the mainstay of the nation’s economy if farm households that constitute the bulk of the population continue to derive their livelihood from agriculture.

He however noted that success in agricultural growth and reduction in poverty will depend on an ecologically adopted and economically viable agricultural technology.

FUTA Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebiyi Daramola, hailed Professor Ajibefun for the "brilliant delivery" of the lecture.