FUNAAB VC Asks Governments to End Insecurity and Increase Food Security
Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Professor Olusola Kehinde said the major cause of food insecurity in the country was attacks on farmers by armed bandits, terrorists and other criminal elements.
Professor Kehinde, asked Federal and state governments to end insecurity in the country in order to increase food security.
He also listed climatic change as another major challenges which is forcing many farmers to quit farming, following heavy losses they are sustaining, because they are ill-equipped on how to tackle it.
Professor Kehinde speaking on Wednesday while delivering his welcome at a two-day workshop organized by Difisol project in the university, on the campus of the institution, said the workshop is set up to introduce i.t technology to enhance food security in the country.
According to him, the workshop tagged “promoting digital solutions for farmers in remote communities to adapt to climate change” was organized to train farmers in rural areas on how they can use IT technology to tackle climatic changes affecting their crop and livestock farming.
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The Vice Chancellor said the i.t technology can also help the farmers to monitor their farm from home, the well-being of the farm products and know whenever their farm is being attacked by intruders.
He also pleads with government, NGO’s and philanthropists, to help farmers in the rural areas to access the technology by sponsoring them educationally on how to use the technology and its maintenance.
Also speaking at the workshop, the national coordinator for Difisol project, Professor Chris Emeyonu, who is the guest speaker, said the technology is an app which could be used by both educated and uneducated farmers in the rural areas.
According to the professor, his team have visited the urban areas, to conduct a survey on the category of farmers in those areas, their level of education, income, family size and challenges facing them.
The coordinator also said the new technology would also help farmers to sell their produce from the comfort of their homes, without visiting the market.
The professor pleads to the government to enhance this project and make it accessible to the farmers through loans, building a radio stations in the rural areas to educate them more on the technology.
