{"id":125163,"date":"2026-01-22T17:49:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=125163"},"modified":"2026-01-22T17:49:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:49:42","slug":"fg-champions-smart-farming-in-varsities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/fg-champions-smart-farming-in-varsities\/","title":{"rendered":"FG Champions Smart Farming in Varsities\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Daniel Adaji<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to embedding smart, technology-driven agriculture in Nigerian universities as a strategy to strengthen food security, reduce poverty and grow the economy nationwide.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This assurance was given on Thursday by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Aliyu Abdullahi, during a courtesy visit by a delegation of the Federal University of Education, Kontagora (FUEK), Niger State, led by its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Faruk Haruna, to the National Agricultural Growth Scheme\u2013Agro Pocket (NAGS\u2013AP) office in Abuja.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking at the meeting, Abdullahi said the Ministry would support agricultural and infrastructure development not only at FUEK but across tertiary institutions in the country, stressing that universities are critical to building a modern, resilient agricultural sector.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He explained that government support would prioritise practical, hands-on training and entrepreneurship to prepare students for profitable careers in agriculture and agribusiness.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to him, collaboration with universities would \u201cfocus on practical, hands-on experience, and entrepreneurship profitable for students as well as foster a new generation of Agripreneurs.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The minister urged tertiary institutions to move beyond traditional farming methods and embrace innovation-driven agriculture.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He advised that institutions should focus on \u201csmart agriculture business, uses digital technology, data analytics to boost efficiency, profitability, and sustainability, moving beyond traditional farming to optimize inputs and improve yields through precision management, creating a data-driven, connected food system from farm to production.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Abdullahi also reflected on the decline in agricultural education over the years and the need to re-engage young people in farming.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He noted that \u201cAgriculture teachers used to be the best then but gradually dying off which led to the formation of Young Farmers Club (YFC), a youth organization focused on engaging young people in agriculture through practical skills, modern techniques, and leadership, aimed at making farming appealing, promote food security, and foster self-reliance, with major initiatives recently launched in Nigeria by the First Lady to boost youth involvement in farming as a viable career.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his remarks, Haruna acknowledged the minister\u2019s longstanding support for the institution, revealing that Abdullahi sponsored the bill establishing the Federal University of Education, Kontagora, while serving as Senator for Niger North. He said the bill was assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 2021.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Vice-Chancellor used the opportunity to seek further federal backing for the university\u2019s agricultural development plans. He requested the establishment of agro-processing and value addition centres for training and research, as well as support for modern farm machinery, renewable energy solutions, cold rooms, greenhouses and irrigation facilities.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Daniel Adaji The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to embedding smart, technology-driven agriculture in Nigerian universities as a strategy to strengthen food security, reduce poverty and grow the&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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