Agric Policies: Professor Urges Government to Deepen Public-Private Partnership 

A professor of agriculture has recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria should deepen Public-Private Partnership, PPP, in the implementation of some of its agricultural policies toward achieving food sufficiency.

Prof. Morufat Balogun, Head, Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, CPEB, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan, stated this in Ibadan, in an interview with newsmen, ahead of the 60th anniversary of the department.

The professor disclosed that although the country has lots of good and ‘well thought-out’ agricultural policies, the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies have remained major challenges, opining that deepening collaboration with the private sector to address the challenges may bring the solution, as Nigeria desires the best.

She stated: “Government should also be more sensitive to gender as well as youths and women. If we are not capturing women, we are actually leaving out 50 percent of the potentials of the entire population, and if we are not capturing youths, we are also not looking at the future of the country.”

Global Environmental Challenges,
The professor disclosed that the theme of the 60th anniversary: ‘Revamping Environmental Management for a Food Secure Nigeria’, was chosen in recognition of the global environmental challenges, saying the climate is changing negatively, temperature increasing and the earth warming up, while icebergs are getting defrosted.

“These have made the water level to rise; flood is also increasing and the prediction is that the tropical environment can become like desert, while desert can become like tropical, if we are not careful,” Prof. Balogun warned.

She explained that the implication may be challenge of survival in terms of access to food, asserting that if plants being grown don’t change with the environment, the yield and productivity may reduce, leading to less food.

Balogun disclosed that the department has done a lot towards enriching agriculture in Nigeria having gone a long way in research and academic works and produced a vice-chancellor, directors of research institutes and lecturers who are contributing to the development of the country’s agricultural sector.

Plant Diseases
Corroborating Balogun, Prof. Abiodun Claudius-Cole, who heads the Plant Pathology Unit, said the department deals with plant diseases that are known to have negative impacts on the quality and quantity of agricultural produce, explaining the importance of knowing and mitigating the impacts of the diseases so as not to affect farmers’ yields, income and food security in the country.

She stated: “Once a farmer is unable to meet his target, owing to plant diseases, there will be shortage of agricultural produce in the country. We have some plant pathologies that release poisonous substances into agricultural produce, especially close to harvest or during storage.”

Claudius-Cole revealed there is a limit to the amount of toxic or pesticides that farmers can apply on agricultural produce, as such may be harmful to human and animals consuming them, and result in rejection of farmers’ produce, by the international community, while being exported.

She noted that part of the duties of her department is to manage plant diseases in an environmentally-responsible way so as not to leave negative impacts on the environment, disclosing that her unit has developed a cultural method which farmers can use to reduce the impacts of diseases on their crops and safeguard both human and animal health.

On her part, Dr Olajumoke Alabi, who heads the Entomology Unit, said “the department has a Diagnostic Unit where farmers who have challenges with diseaseAgric Policies: Professor Urges Government to Deepen Public-Private Partnership s or pests can bring samples which would be used in diagnosing the problems and provide solutions to them.”

Similarly, the Head of the Environmental Biology Unit, Dr Olubode Oluseun, said research from the department has helped by minimising crop failures.

The grand finale of the 60th anniversary is scheduled for January 31, 2024, at the University of Ibadan, Southwestern, Nigeria.

Shakirat Sadiq 6