Unilorin set to inaugurate moringa processing factory

Ambali spoke at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum according to the university’s bulletin obtained by Daily Trust, adding that the university has established other plantations to serve as training outlets for the students.He said: “The Moringa processing factory, which has been completed, will be inaugurated during this year’s convocation ceremonies. We also have […]

Ambali spoke at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum according to the university’s bulletin obtained by Daily Trust, adding that the university has established other plantations to serve as training outlets for the students.
He said: “The Moringa processing factory, which has been completed, will be inaugurated during this year’s convocation ceremonies. We also have other plantations like jatropha, teak, date palm and the oil palm plantation that is coming up soon. All these were established to serve as practical training outlets for our students, most especially those in the forestry department, biological sciences, and even economics and other disciplines in the faculty of management sciences.”
He said that the harvesting, processing and marketing of the Moringa plant required the expertise of those in the Marketing, Accounting Departments and other Management Sciences.
The vice-chancellor, however, urged the federal government to involve youth in mechanised farming to boost food production in the country, advising government to refocus agriculture in order to achieve the feat.
He said: “We have to re-assess our focus. There are two ways to look at it. Do we want youth to be in agriculture because we want more food to be produced for Nigerians? Or do we want to put more youths into agriculture because we want to address unemployment?
“When you look at the developed world and calculate how many percentage of their population are in agriculture, it is very few, very small percentage of them is engaged in agriculture, because most of the practices are mechanised. But if you want to get more youths out of the streets to go into agriculture, then, we are thinking of subsistence form of agriculture and it would not work. If we want more food, then, we have to mechanise our agriculture.”