Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, on Thursday in Ibadan, said that the institution would adopt five secondary schools in the city to improve their quality of education.
Olayinka said this at a training organised by West Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) in collaboration with Cat Fish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN), Oyo State chapter.
He added that the desire was to contribute to the development of the society and surrounding communities, stressing that if UI wished to be the best, its immediate environment must benefit from it.
“The training is part of the university’s vision to impact the society, I will continue to support any programme that will impact positively on the lives of the people,” he said.
The Dean, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, UI, Prof. Eustace Iyayi, said agriculture programmes should be strengthened now that the country was set to
diversify the economy.
Iyayi emphasised that value addition was good in production to create more market and income for farmers.
“Nigeria is in need of food security, we need good nutrition and have food security now; so, we need to produce and empower people to get products.”
Also, Prof. Bamidele Omitoyin, the Head of Department, Fishery and Aquaculture, said the goal was to get research results across to farmers to develop them.
Omitoyin said UI fish had been in circulation since 2010, assuring that there would be improvement in the quality of fish the department was distributing.
“We have made several breakthroughs including sending some members on training outside the country just to get the best for the farmers; this training will help farmers to use fish in different dimensions,” he said.
Earlier, Prof. Emmanuel Ajani, the Regional Coordinator, CORAF Project, said the project, sponsored by the World Bank, was a regional one covering West/Central African countries including Nigeria and Cameroon.
“Through it, we distributed half a million fish finger lings supplied to 1,500 farmers in Nigeria; we also designed and distributed smoking kinks to 200 farmers.
“We want to explore more on value addition on fish that is why we organised the training, this is the first of its kind in Nigeria since the project started in 2012.”
The training is on value addition and product development of farm-raised catfish, hosted by Department of Fishery and Aquaculture.
