The Federal College of Agriculture, Akure ( FECA) has trained and empowered no fewer than 7,500 categories of entrepreneurs on profitable agro-business ventures from September 2008 till date.
Dr Samson Odedina, the provost of the institution, disclosed these to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Akure.
Odedina said that the college was able to achieve this feat based on the quality of, and wealth of experiences of its staff in practical agriculture.
He said that the college’s facilities and manpower were ranked among the best in Africa.
The provost said that the college played a leading and pioneering role in the actualisation of the new value-chain curriculum in schools of agriculture across the country.
The provost said, “Based on what we do in FECA, we got a support from the Government of Australia and some institutions and we introduced value- chain into the curricula of schools of agriculture in Nigeria.
“By the end of last month, we got an approval from the Federal Government through the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) that the curriculum should be used in all schools teaching agriculture.
“This value-chain curriculum is the first of its kind in Nigeria; none had existed prior to this time.
“This is as a result of value-chain activities of production processing, value-addition marketing and consumption at the college.”
He said that the college’s case study was adapted for the development of the curriculum based on its past experience.
“The joy of it is that FECA is playing a leading role and also practicalising it for everyone to see,” he said.
He added that everything FECA had was a case study confirming that value-chain approach would be a success.
According to him, the new curriculum will enable students teach farmers on how to maximise profits at every stage of production.
He applauded Harvest Plus Nigeria for being a most rewarding and sustainable partner in track record of producing quality and self-employed graduates for the agricultural sector.
“ It is commendable that Harvest Plus Nigeria built, equipped and donated agroshops, bio-fortification restaurants and cassava processing and value addition centres for stakeholders in the sector.
“ The Harvest Plus Nigeria also sponsored the establishment and maintenance of 100 hectares of Vitamin A cassava varieties for farmers and entrepreneurs in Ondo State,” he said.
