Olooye Adegboyega Taofeek Adegoke, the Aare Egbe Omo Balogun of Ibadanland, has stated that the nation’s agricultural universities have no business importing food.
Adegoke made this declaration at the weekend shortly after he was conferred with a distinguished alumni award by the Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife.
DAILY POST reports that the event, which was held within the premises of the institution, was part of the 13th Faculty of Agriculture’s Lecture and Awards, with the theme: “Mitigating Rising Food Prices: The Underlying Issues,” delivered by Adetunji Oredipe, Senior Agricultural Economist from the World Bank.
Adegoke, while speaking, noted that universities where agricultural science is offered should not be buying food items from outside.
He maintained that the university community should be buying foodstuffs from the faculty at affordable prices and not from outside the campus.
He added that this will help reduce food importation, food scarcity, and hunger in the country.
Adegoke further urged governments at all levels to take agriculture seriously.
He added that the issue of continuous increases in food prices will be a thing of the past if there is enough coming from the farms.
He concluded by encouraging individuals to go into cottage farming.
“Farming is key. Sustainable farming is key to the development of any country because if you cannot feed your citizens, why are you in existence as a country?
“Therefore, farming is key, and we have to encourage our people to farm. Like this Faculty of Agriculture, I expect that the faculty should be the one feeding the university community.
“The faculty should set different days for the selling of produce and other farm products to the university community. Let’s say Monday for livestock, Tuesday for Gari, Wednesday for fish, Thursday for eggs, and Friday for vegetables.
“The university community should be buying foodstuffs from the faculty at affordable prices, not from outside the campus. That is the way to go. What are they doing with the farm? If they lack resources, they should let us know.
“Likewise, the country should also take the issue of farming more seriously so that there can be food security. The issue of continuous increases in food prices will be a thing of the past if there is enough coming from the farms.
“I want to encourage every individual to go into cottage farming, while well-to-do individuals and governments at all levels should invest more in mechanized farming to tackle the issue of food shortage.”
Written By Musliudeen Adebayo