IITA Director General N. Sanginga, FARA Executive Director AkinbamijoL-R: IITA Director General N. Sanginga, FARA Executive Director Akinbamijo, FARA Board of Trustees member, Dr A. Traoré, and Dr K. Atta-Krah, Director of Humidtropics at the FARA meeting in IITA Ibadan.
IITA DG Sanginga, in brief remarks at the week-long meeting organized by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), said agriculture has come to stay in Africa and that it would help reduce the rate of unemployment in the continent.
The meeting focused on leadership training and corporate governance and the induction of FARA board members;
Dr Sanginga’s assertion on the role and importance of agriculture was reechoed by different speakers including the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, who was represented by his Deputy, Otunba Moses Alake Adeyemo.
While commending the partnership between FARA and IITA, the Governor described agriculture as the key to wealth creation, a veritable tool to strengthening democracy, and hope for lifting the continent out of poverty.
To transform the sector, Senator Ajimobi said Africans needed to grow and patronize their own food rather than rely on importation. Also critical is the need to tackle the poor image of farmers and the illusion that farmers are always poor.
He also stressed the need for youths to take up agriculture as a profession and promised that his government would increase funding for agriculture and research extension to rekindle farmers’ interest.
The high point of the event which was held in IITA Ibadan was the induction of Dr Charity Kruger as the chairperson of the FARA Board of Trustees.
source: www.iita.org