JCI Odua trains 100 students on agribusiness in Oyo

Junior Chamber International, Odua (JCI Odua) in conjunction with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Oyo State Government through the Start Them Early Programme (STEP) on Saturday organised the Back to School Agricultural Summit at Methodist High School, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The 2022 JCI Odua president, JCIN Amb. Hammed Lateef in his remark restated the club’s commitment to curbing food insecurity, which occurs as a result of disruption of farmlands by herdsmen.

Hameed made it known that “The JCI Odua came about the summit to address these issues, also to boost agricultural inputs, develop human capacity from early school years, and that is why we focus on senior secondary school students.

“The project involves ten students from ten different schools, namely; Ibadan Grammar School, Anglican Grammar School, Liberty Commercial Academy, St. Luke’s Grammar School, Yejide Girls Grammar School, St. Anne’s School, Community Grammar School, Eyinni High School.

“These students are exposed to different livestock farming tools, and crop production tools as well, all these been done, we hope they would not remain the same, as agriculture itself is not the same as it was in the early days,” he said.

Ms Edese Joy, representing Ms Bolanle Larinde from IITA enlightened the students on the fundamentals of Agribusiness.

She said, “you don’t have to be a total farmer to be in the Agribusiness, there are many ways to be a farmer. You can be a lawyer, doctor and at the same time farm for profit, selling farm produce and others can also make you an agriculturist.

She also emphasized the need for technology in agribusinesses, using social media as a tool to sell farm produce.

“We cannot continue to depend on white-collar jobs, let’s take an example, there is a job slot in Shell company, and many were called to apply, remember only one person is needed, the time and resources we use in doing so, why not concentrate it on farming and make money,” she lamented.

Joy highlighted carriers in agriculture, namely but not limited to veterinarian, food scientist, biological engineer, plant scientist, irrigation engineer, animal scientist, agronomist, horticulturist, nutritionist/dietician, livestock production manager, agricultural lawyer.

Past president of JCIOdua, Tosin Aderibigbe in his lecture, titled ‘Education a Key To Success in Life’ restating that Agriculture is not just about planting and cultivating, it’s far more than that.

Another guest lecturer, JCIN Amb. Abdulrasheed Adewuyi who made it known that he studied mass communication, turned farmer, and a proud one at that.

He said this during his lecture titled, “Agriculture Investment, Opportunity For All.”

“History of agriculture started during the colonial era when our forefathers ventured into farming and saw that they have essence where they can do trade by barters, as they don’t have any other things doing, so they exchange what they cultivate, and that’s how trading began, in other words, agriculture gave birth to trade.

“We need to know and open our eyes to agriculture which is our way of life, our fathers brainwashed us to the belief that agriculture is not the way then, but we need to remind us youngsters of how important it is to us,” he said.

“The future of Africa will not come from oil or gas, but agriculture because nobody smoke gas, nobody drink gas, it can only be food,” Adewuyi concluded.

The host principal, Mrs magret while giving her motivation and encouraging speech appreciates the JCI ODUA for a wonderful workforce motivation and enterprise opportunity given to the students to enlighten them that there is more to life than education.

“As you are serious with your education, there are many other things you can do to achieve greatness in Nigeria,” she said to the students.

Babalola Ayoola a JSS 3 student of Methodist high school summarised what was thought during the summit to others, he talked about fish farming, and what’s needed for a successful fish farming process.

“I want to thank Governor Seyi Makinde for bringing STEP to our school,” he concluded.

Another student, Lukman Sunday talked about nursery farming, how it can be achieved, and he concluded by appreciating the STEP team for bringing to them the agribusiness knowledge.

Other students who also came out are Ogedengbe Jeremiah and Adeboye Femi who talked about poultry farming said it helps in employment generation.

Also in the award presentation, the president and former president of JCI Odua present an award to Abdurasheed Adewuyi for his well-organised lecture and presentation, other award recipients are Tosin Aderibigbe, host Principal Mrs Magret and Ms Bolanle Larinde.

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