OAU students want school farm ‘properly managed’

The students of the Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, have demanded proper operation of the university farm.

The students made this demand during the Sahel Scholar’s Conference, organised by Sahel Consulting in collaboration with Faculty of Agriculture on Monday at the university’s Conference Centre.

The conference was aimed at introducing students to opportunities in the agribusiness landscape, steps for becoming agripreneurs and building successful careers in the sector.

The students complained about the poor state of the operating system at the Teaching and Research Farm.
Speaking with CAMPUS REPORTER, Adeola Smith, a final year student, said the farm needs to be equipped and mechanised.

“This is not the first time of having this kind of programme, but the problem is that even the university don’t react to what matters most.”

Another student, who identified himself as Akorede, a 400 level student of the Department of Agriculture Economics, said: “the university is making enough funds but refused to improve operations. As a 400 level student, I go to farm every day with my colleagues to cultivate. After harvesting, we sell farm produce and all payments go to the school farm yet; operating activities keep getting worse.

“We’ve had several events like this, but implementation is often the problem. We hope this will be different,” another student said.

However, the Dean of the Faculty, Durodola Oyedele, while reacting to the demand of the students, said: “effort will be put in place to look into the students’ complaint”.

The Sahel Scholar’s Conference is the second annual edition of which OAU is a beneficiary.

“Sixty best students in the Faculty of Agriculture will be chosen for a paid Internship program and a year Scholarship award”, said Ndidi Nweneli, the Managing Partner of Sahel Consulting.