The Cassava Weed Management Project (CWMP), a special project implemented by the University, in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State, has celebrated the 2015 World Food Day in FUNAAB.
The Project Team Leader, Co-ordinator of CWMP and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), Professor ‘Segun Lagoke, stated that the aim of the celebration, was to raise public awareness about the challenges of hunger by encouraging people to take action in fighting the malaise, adding that the Field Day served as an opportunity to showcase on-going trials and CWMP project activities to FUNAAB scientists, stakeholders from the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP), as well as farmers from selected communities such as Adao, Ajegunle, Akintobi and Alabata; all in Ogun State.
According to him, the theme of the 2015 World Food Day, "Social Protection and Agriculture", was timely, as he stressed that the role social protection played in reducing chronic food insecurity and poverty was by ensuring direct access to food. Professor Lagoke added that social protection was a viable alternative for stimulating agricultural production and local economic activities, noting that this year’s theme drew attention to the achievements recorded in rural development and food production.
Relating the goals of the World Food Day to the activities of CWMP, the Project Team Leader, highlighted them to include: the development of appropriate agronomist practices that increase cassava production and reduced losses from weed competition and drudgery for women and children; identifying effective and safe herbicides for weed control in cassava in Nigeria; evaluating integrated approaches of combining best agronomist measures with best-suited herbicides to maximize weed control in cassava systems.
Others are: the involvement of farmers and other stakeholders in research to develop improved weed
management practices in cassava by empowering extension services; providing farmers with the knowledge they needed to improve weed management practices; ensuring project impact through good governance; and effective management strategies for result handover to national partners.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Professor Adekojo Waheed, disclosed that the World Food Day is celebrated on the 16th of October every year, to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), an arm of the United Nations in the year 1945, as a day of "Action Against Hunger".
Professor Oyewole pointed out that farmers played vital role in the fight against hunger in the sense that they "are the key actors in the process of fighting hunger and finding concrete remedies that address issues affecting food security and nutrition. In order to guarantee this result and face this challenge, it is crucial to ensure that farmers have access to infrastructure, credit and functional markets. Farmers also need to have access to science, innovation and knowledge, which are essential for the development of the agricultural sector".
The Vice-Chancellor lauded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMF) for funding the CWMP with the charitable purpose of developing improved and integrated approaches to weed management that reduce labour requirements by enhancing the productivity of small holders’ cassava farms in Nigeria. Corroborating the Vice-Chancellor, the Programme Manager of the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programmes (OGADEP), represented by Mr. Emmanuel Ojo, admonished farmers to take seriously, research breakthroughs they were being exposed to stating that, "when hunger is taken out of one’s life, half of a person’s problem is solved".
Last Updated on October 23, 2015 by admin
