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By Gabriel Dike
Babcock University (BU) and Farm Connect have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the development of a green (indoor) agriculture comprising crops production and poultry (production of birds, broilers’ eggs).
The controlled environment agriculture to be located in 15 screen houses on a half hectare net house at Iperu would run for three years in the first phase.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ademola Tayo, expressed satisfaction that it was happening at a time the university would be playing host to 28 vice chancellors of the Adventists’ universities in Africa.
“This would be a test case and I hope it would be something to trigger a revolution among these African universities and also a good way to begin a long lasting relationship with Farm Connect,” he said.
While noting that “agreements are as good as those who implement them”, Prof. Tayo urged the partner not to disappoint on its part to earn more jobs and recommendations.
On its part, Prof. Tayo said, “we would keep our own part of the agreement,” adding that if the project is well executed, it would serve as a stop gap to Nigeria’s food crisis triggered by the bandits’ onslaught on farmers in the middle belt.
In his response, Chief Executive Officer of Farm Connect, Mr. Azeez Olawale, said he was going into the project with all the zeal he can muster, saying, “we are committed to this project than profiting from it.”
Olawale said not only did he see this project as an act of worship to God but also a way of addressing food insecurity in Nigeria.
He said he was singling out higher institutions because he liked to live his life by adding value and that a lot of destinies would be affected if the project was sited in Babcock.
Olawale said “his dream is also to change the story of how agriculturalists are perceived by people.”
Chairman of a seven-man think tank, Prof. Cyril Nwangburoka, said the MoU was the outcome of its painstaking assignment as directed by the vice chancellor when the proposal was handed over to them in March this year.
