In its bid to renew farming in public schools, the Oyo State Government through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has trained 58
pre-vocational studies teachers on soilless/hydroponic farming on skill acquisition.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Salihu Adelabu, while speaking at a day Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop, held at Wesley College of Science, Elekuro, Ibadan, said that the training would enable the teachers to instill entrepreneur skills in the area of agriculture to their students to become agropreneurs.
He explained that the 58 trained Teachers would be the ones to train other Agricultural Science Teachers across the 33 local government areas of the State adding that the essence of the training “is that we are going back to the farm.”
He said, “We are resuscitating the school farming, and we want to catch the children so young and we are coming up with hydroponic farming this time around in all our secondary schools. “What do I mean by hydroponic farming? It’s soilless farming. if you see what is going on in the area of agricultural development worldwide, nobody is going to the thick bush farming again, what they do, they do their farming activities in the greenhouse, where water conservation is regulated, the temperature is regulated, the pests, and the weed control is properly managed.”
“And this often increases the yield, so, we are now bringing selected teachers across the 33 local governments in Oyo State to train them and to go back to train others and encourage them to go back to the farm in our secondary schools. So, that’s the essence. What we intend to achieve is to make all our students agropreneurs, we want them to develop entrepreneurial skills in the area of agriculture. And many of them can eventually become millionaires. They are not going to graduate and begin to seek jobs. They can now as well be recruiting people. They will plant very big, but they can start very small, with little money such as #5,000, #10,000, #20,000. These children can start after graduation, even while in school, some of them can start practicing Hydroponic farming, and all these skills involved, this is what we want the teacher to start putting these children through before they finish their NECO or WAEC Examination”, he added.
In her remarks, the Director of Basic Education in the Ministry, Olabode Abosede, called on agricultural science teachers in public schools to endeavor to introduce their students to practical aspects of the subject in due course to get the desired result.
She explained that the good thing about school farming in which the government is bringing back on board is the introduction of soiless farming, which she described as a modern way of farming.
She encouraged teachers of agricultural science in various schools to embrace the initiative, particularly schools with limited farm land .
Abosede lauded the teachers for their commitment to the training, noting that the ministry would put in place a monitoring team for a periodic visit to the schools and Project evaluation.
