By Ayodele Oni
In a bid to boost food production and be self sufficient, undergraduates of Ekiti State University, (EKSU) have been encouraged to lease land within the campus for agricultural purposes.
Students and graduands that veer into agriculture have been assured of assistance from the one billion naira innovation fund to boost agro technology.
The Chancellor of EKSU, Dr. Tunji Olowolafe announced the fund to empower agro-technology companies founded by the latest graduands and current students of the institution.
He announced this on Wednesday in his speech at the 28th convocation ceremonies of the institution.
The Chancellor, also, announced the establishment of an endowment agenda to offer support and subsidies for up to 30 academic staff members,l pp p so as to facilitate their participation in international conferences, training sessions, and research activities.
This is in addition to the creation of a platform for 100 of the brightest students from EKSU to engage in resourceful and sustainable work for skills acquisition and development.
Olowolafe noted that it has become imperative for graduates and undergraduates in Nigeria to get actively involved in activities geared towards supporting food security, innovation and strategic entrepreneurship in the current circumstance.
“Today your excellency, the general discussion in Nigeria is about cost of living and food security. All of us eat. But many of us do not spend time to think about what we eat, how it is produced and how did it get to our table.
“My view is regardless of what we are studying at university, we must all think about how we can do our bit to produce food. This means both the academic and student faculties must come together to think and act.”
He suggested that students take land lease arrangements for agricultural purposes adding that special awards could also be given to outstanding agriculture entrepreneurs in addition to academic honours.
“This campus is located on very fertile land. Let us see how we can optimize the use of this land for agricultural purposes. Each student can lease a small plot of land for production.
“As we learn to pass our exams, we can also use these farms to eat and earn a living. There is no age or gender restriction.
“Mr. Vice Chancellor sir, as we give awards to best academic students, we can also give awards to best agro entrepreneurs on campus.
“Some can do grains while others do vegetables. Some can do poultry whilst others can do fisheries. Some can even do logistics whilst others do apps.”
He urged the graduands and undergraduates to endeavour to take a needs assessment of their environments to see resources that could be tapped into emphasizing that youths need to think wider than their narrow fields of study.
“Graduands, the market is there. Agriculture cannot and will not prevent you from pursuing your dreams. As a matter of fact, it will allow you to pursue your dreams on a full stomach.
“Many Universities are seen as centres of academic learning. But they should also ‘course correct’ to be ‘life experience’ centres. It is beyond obtaining a qualification, you ought to also leave university with some experiences on how to live and be independent with little or no family support.”
 have been encouraged to lease land within the campus for agricultural purposes.){kind=link}